Sunday Sport’s ‘Countdown to 16’ Feature and Its Controversy
In 1987, the British tabloid press was at a peak, with The Sun newspaper selling nearly 4 million copies daily, driven by sensational celebrity stories and political support for Margaret Thatcher. The competition among tabloids was fierce, leading to increasingly provocative content to capture readers. The Sun’s topless Page 3 girls were a notable element of its popularity. Within this environment, the Sunday Sport, a tabloid known for its particularly explicit content, introduced a feature that challenged journalistic ethics even by its own standards.
On 6 September 1987, the Sunday Sport began a countdown to the 16th birthday of schoolgirl Natalie Banus, marking when she could legally be pictured topless. The newspaper, owned by David Sullivan, a figure prominent in the adult entertainment industry who recently resigned as joint-chair and director of West Ham United, had launched the previous year amid controversy.
Banus’s coverage coincided with a brief and unsuccessful merger between the Sunday Sport and the Daily Star, during which the Sunday Sport was rebranded as the Star Sunday Sport. Both papers devoted extensive coverage to Banus, describing her as “the sexiest 15-year-old in Britain” and detailing her measurements as “a fantastic 40-22-34.”
When Banus first appeared in the Sunday Sport, the paper pushed legal boundaries by publishing semi-naked photos where her chest was obscured only by her arms. At the time, laws prohibited indecent images of those under 16, but the Sunday Sport maintained compliance, arguing Banus was “not quite topless.” The paper referred to 15 as “the age of the nymphet” and called Banus “the sexiest Lolita of them all.” Upon Banus turning 16, fully topless pictures were published in the Daily Star. The Sunday Sport also promoted a premium-rate chat line for readers to hear her voice.
Nearly 40 years later, Banus reflected on her glamour modelling career in her memoir Dark Star, published earlier in 2024. She recalled the Sunday Sport wishing her a happy birthday and declaring her legal to show her breasts and for sexual partners to be free from legal consequences.
“The Sunday Sport wished me a good [birthday] and told readers that I was legal, meaning that I could both show my boobs and that anyone who had sex with me no longer had to fear they might be arrested,”
Banus, who had aspired to be a ballet dancer before being scouted by a glamour photographer, said she cried upon reading the articles anticipating her birthday. One Daily Star article recounted an alleged incident in a changing room where she feared a teenage boy might sexually assault her. After turning 16 on 11 October, she recalled the Daily Star running topless photos of her throughout the week, often accompanied by sensational stories about her sexual pride, being groped, or fantasizing about sex.
This exposure led to further work with Sullivan’s publications, including explicit photoshoots at his former Essex home. Banus wrote that Sullivan told her she was “a cut above so many models” and “dynamite” for selling papers.
“While opinions on him may vary, I say with honesty that he has shown me courtesy and kindness in our dealings.”
Despite her criticism of the newspapers, Banus has refrained from personal criticism of Sullivan or allegations against him. Following news of Sullivan’s departure from West Ham, she reiterated he had “always treated [her] with respect and courtesy.”
Contacting
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Recent Allegations Against David Sullivan
Sullivan’s career in adult entertainment has come under scrutiny following his announcement of resignation from West Ham United to address what he termed “false allegations” about his personal conduct. Seven women have accused him of sexual misconduct in a joint BBC Panorama and The Times investigation. Three alleged Sullivan abused his power as owner of the Sport newspapers to solicit sex from women seeking work. Four others accused him of exploitative and predatory behavior, including pressuring women into sex during business meetings.
The BBC and The Times reported speaking to dozens of former models and industry insiders, some alleging Sullivan was known for casting couch practices. Sullivan has denied all allegations through his lawyers.
“I categorically deny all of these complaints.”
“After a lifetime spent building businesses in the adult industry, in which I have met thousands of women, it is sadly inevitable that a small number of improper conduct claims are being made against me.”
Sullivan did not respond to further inquiries.
The Sunday Sport and Its Legacy
The merger between the Star and the Sport lasted only eight weeks, reportedly due to advertiser and journalist backlash against Sullivan’s influence. Undeterred, the Sunday Sport and Daily Sport continued for over 15 years to celebrate teenage girls’ 16th birthdays by publishing topless images. These images were often paired with the newspapers’ notorious outlandish stories, such as claims of a London bus found at the South Pole or aliens transforming a man into a fish finger. Some teenage models remained regular features, while others withdrew, affected by exposure to the seedy tabloid market. Some were encouraged to share sexual experience details, which some later claimed were exaggerated or fabricated.
On 3 July 1994, the Sunday Sport featured Linsey Dawn McKenzie, a bikini-clad 15-year-old from Wallington, south London, under the headline: “Please print my boobs when I’m 16.” It noted she was 15 years, 10 months, three weeks, and four days old, with just under six weeks until her 16th birthday, and stated it would not show her fully topless for legal reasons until then. McKenzie appeared weekly in the paper until turning 16, with the paper encouraging readers to draw how they imagined her topless and publishing selected drawings. Coupons were distributed for pre-ordering the 14 August edition, promising full topless photos.
On her 16th birthday, the paper proclaimed: “Here she is at last, folks. Lovely Linsey Dawn McKenzie – sweet sixteen and stripped bare for YOU.”
On 17 May 1998, Zoe Parker, scouted weeks earlier by her stepfather Bob at a pornography fair, appeared topless in the Sunday Sport with the headline: “I’m sweet 16 and I can’t get enough.” The article detailed her purportedly outrageous sex life. The controversy led to Parker’s expulsion from school in Stamford, Lincolnshire.
The following year, Parker told the Sunday People she had been coerced into glamour modelling by her stepfather and that the experience nearly drove her to suicide.
“I was lonely, frightened and couldn’t carry on,”
“I couldn’t take any more and I thought the only way was to kill myself.”
Parker later claimed some media statements about her sexual experiences were “rubbish,” alleging her stepfather encouraged her to fabricate stories for publicity. Bob Parker said he only encouraged her to pursue what she wanted.
The Sport newspapers also profited from advertisements for videos featuring 16-year-old girls into the 2000s. In 2002, they promoted “incredibly hardcore” pornographic videos involving “barely legal” teenagers, some portrayed in school uniforms or filmed during their first sexual encounters.
One of the last 16-year-old models featured was Cherry Frampton, known as Cherry Dee, from Buckley, north Wales. Scouted at 15, she appeared topless in the Sunday Sport on 10 August 2003 under the headline: “Happy 16th bare-day.” An advert in the Daily Sport the previous day showed Frampton in lingerie and suspenders, stating: “She’s sweet 16 and just left school, her boobs are 32E and still growing. Tomorrow, only in the Sunday Sport, she’s getting them out!”
At age 20, six months after being crowned Miss Sunday Sport 2007, Frampton retired from glamour modelling to train as a nurse. She later expressed concern about some models openly using cocaine on shoots and noted that many peers were drawn into stripping, lap dancing, escorting, or sex work.
“Loads of them worked as strippers, in lapdancing clubs and as escorts, some of them even selling sex,”
“I know a lot of them were tempted into porn but I wasn’t hungry for all that.”
A 2004 law change making it illegal to publish indecent images of under-18s ended Sullivan’s countdown to 16 feature. However, rumors about his treatment of young models and other women persisted online for years.
David Sullivan’s Background and Career
Born in Cardiff in 1949 and raised in Hornchurch, Essex, Sullivan graduated with an economics degree from Queen Mary College, University of London. In the early 1970s, he began selling explicit photos via a mail-order business in East London, later expanding into sex shops and pornographic magazines.
In a 2024 documentary, Sullivan recalled frequent police raids but developing a cooperative relationship with the Obscene Publications Squad, which allowed him to avoid prosecution by avoiding bondage content. This enabled him to publish material other magazines could not, helping him dominate the market.
By age 25, Sullivan was a millionaire and ventured into film production. His first and most successful film was 1977’s Come Play With Me, starring his then-girlfriend Mary Millington. Millington died by suicide in 1979 following police raids on a sex shop she operated. She left a note urging Sullivan to advocate for pornography legalization. Sullivan continued distributing her footage posthumously as a tribute.
Sullivan described Come Play With Me as “a Carry On film with tits and bums and pubic hair,” noting it was made quickly and marketed as Britain’s strongest sex comedy. Some actors reportedly went on strike due to the film’s explicit final cut.
As Sullivan’s notoriety grew, so did allegations of his demands for sexual favors from young women seeking work. Vicki Scott, a former glamour model and Marilyn Monroe lookalike, recalled meeting Sullivan in the late 1970s. She said he asked her to strip and made advances, which she rejected.
“I’ll never forget when I was about 19 and I went to see him for the first time about a magazine job,”
“After telling me to strip off, he tried it on and I would not have it. He said: ‘That’s how it is if you want to work with me.’”
“I’d tell the girls: ‘Look, you can see Dave, but you’ll probably have to sleep with him,’”
Sullivan did not directly respond to Scott’s comments but reportedly declared “war” on the Sunday People and threatened to investigate its editor’s private life.
In 1981, Sue Stewart, a 24-year-old secretary, told the News of the World she answered an ad for £150-a-night promotional work and that Sullivan asked her to undress and attempted to have sex with her. Upon refusal, he reportedly compared her to an untrained boxer.
An undercover reporter, Tina Dalgleish, responding to a similar ad, said Sullivan asked if she was interested in sexual activity for money and invited her to his bedroom to assess her performance. She declined and left. Sullivan did not comment on this at the time.
In 1982, Sullivan was convicted of living off immoral earnings after police raided two London saunas he operated. Journalist Mark Killick described the women working there as poorly paid and exploited. Sullivan was sentenced to nine months but served 71 days after a successful appeal.
Transition to Newspapers and Football
After prison, Sullivan sought to distance himself from extreme sex industry elements, aiming to own a newspaper and football club. The Sunday Sport launched in 1986, followed by the Daily Sport in 1991. Due to advertiser reluctance, the papers relied heavily on promotions for premium sex chat lines, reportedly controlled by Sullivan and staffed by models featured in the newspapers.
Sullivan sold his stake in the Sport newspapers in 2007 for about £40 million but reacquired shares in 2011 to rescue the company from administration.
In 1993, Sullivan and business partner David Gold, whose family owned the Ann Summers empire, took over Birmingham City football club. Sullivan appointed 23-year-old Karren Brady, then an unknown Sport advertising executive, as managing director, launching her successful career culminating in a peerage and a role on BBC’s The Apprentice. Brady ended her business relationship with Sullivan in April 2024.
Previous Allegations and West Ham Ownership
In July 2008, Sullivan was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 25-year-old actor at his Essex mansion. He denied the allegations, and after a nearly three-month investigation, police took no further action following Crown Prosecution Service advice. Sullivan later claimed the encounter was consensual and commented on the nature of allegations against wealthy individuals.
“Anybody can make an allegation against anybody in this country and the police have to investigate,”
“I’m a rich person, so I’m a target for this sort of thing. That is the world we live in.”
Sullivan and Gold sold Birmingham City shortly after and purchased West Ham United in early 2010. Sullivan’s former partner, Emma Benton-Hughes, a former pornography actor and Sport glamour model with whom he has two adult sons, briefly served on West Ham’s board. Under Sullivan’s ownership, West Ham won its first trophy in 43 years by securing the UEFA Conference League title in 2023 with a 2-1 victory over Fiorentina.
However, fan dissatisfaction with Sullivan’s management grew, culminating in vocal condemnation following the club’s relegation from the Premier League in 2024. Sullivan attended a recent game against Leeds United accompanied by his reality television star fiancée, Ampika Pickston, who is 32 years his junior and features on ITV’s The Real Housewives of Cheshire. The couple plans to marry next year.
Ongoing Scrutiny and Influence
In the coming days, Sullivan’s extensive history of profiting from sexualized images of young women and pushing legal boundaries to publish extreme content is expected to face intense examination. Despite resigning from West Ham’s board, he remains the club’s largest shareholder, retaining significant financial influence over the club, its women’s team, and youth academy. Whether he can maintain this position amid new allegations remains uncertain.
