England footballer Adam Johnson jailed for engaging in sexual activity with a besotted 15-year-old fan

Johnson, 28, showed no emotion as he was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court by Judge Jonathan Rose.

The former Sunderland and Manchester City winger was found guilty of sexual activity with the teenager following an incident in his Range Rover in County Durham last year.

He admitted another charge of sexual activity with a child and grooming the girl.

Johnson stood with his hands behind his back as the judge - who said the girl had "suffered severe psychological harm" - passed sentence.

The judge said the victim had been a Sunderland fan who would wait after matches to take pictures of her "favourite player", Johnson, who had known her age.

He said: "That was known to you - to put it another way she had only just turned 15 when you began grooming her, because as you were to admit you found her sexually attractive."

He added that the footballer's intention had been to engage in sexual activity with her, knowing that she was under 16.

The judge said Johnson had exchanged more than 800 messages with her, which had largely been innocent.

But he added: "You continued in your grooming of this girl even after you were engaged in sexual activity with her. You wanted no-one to know that you and she were exchanging messages.

"You asked her to find a place to meet that was private and secluded so no-one would see you in her company."

Judge Rose told Johnson the offences happened "at a time when you were engaged in frequent sexual intercourse with multiple partners".

He said: "You made a deliberate decision to engage in sexual activity with this young girl, no doubt in the expectation that you would get away with it."

He said: "Your future as a professional footballer must be in doubt."

Judge Rose told him that he had "every opportunity" to enter guilty pleas to the charges he finally admitted.

The judge said Johnson's decision not to plead guilty meant that the girl was subjected to a year of being called a liar, including having this being chanted by football fans.

He said she reached her "lowest ebb" after giving evidence in the trial.

Judge Rose said the aggravating factors included the secluded location of the offence, Johnson's "disposal" of social media evidence and attempts to stop the girl reporting the matter.

He added: "She speaks of entering many dark places in that year and said she had suffered bullying and stress and had underachieved at school as a result of the case."

She had suffered sadness, anger and confusion which had been "exasperated" because of the footballer's status and standing, he said.

The judge said Johnson must pay £50,000 of the prosecution's £67,132 costs.

Johnson had been warned he faced a "substantial prison sentence" after he was found guilty of one offence of sexual activity with a child by a jury earlier this month.

The 28-year-old ran into the entrance of the Crown Court today as a line of police officers guarded the front as reporters and photographers waited outside.

Earlier his sister said she would not be in court because "I just don't want him to see the pain in my eyes".

She said Johnson's former partner and the mother of his one-year-old daughter, Stacey Flounders, will also not be at the hearing.

In a Facebook post, Ms Johnson said: "Today is the sentencing for my brother, the worst day of my life.

"I just wanted to let all of the supporters know that I will not be attending Bradford Crown Court, the reason for this is Adam has always been my hero, my brother and my best friend, I just don't want him to see the pain in my eyes!

"Instead I will be at home with my little boy, Adam's number 1 fan, Adam's daughter and the mother of his child Stacey.

"I remain proud of my big brother and I am 100 per cent behind him and I always will be."

The player had already admitted another count of the same offence and also grooming the girl, who idolised him.

Judge Jonathan Rose made the jail warning after granting Johnson bail, telling him: "You can say goodbye to your daughter. A prison sentence will mean you will not see her for some time."

Judge Rose told the player - who earned £60,000 a week with Sunderland - his preliminary view was that the case falls into the category of a five-year prison sentence with a possible range of four to 10 years.

All the charges relate to an incident in Johnson's Range Rover when he met up with the girl in County Durham on January 30 last year.

The jury heard how Johnson began exchanging hundreds of messages with the girl on social media at New Year 2015. He eventually agreed to meet her to sign football shirts.

But it was when they met for a second time that he asked for his "thank you kiss".

Johnson admitted kissing the girl but denied any further sexual activity. The girl told the jury how the player digitally penetrated her after putting his hands down her pants and that she then gave him oral sex.

The jury cleared Johnson of the count relating to oral sex but found him guilty on a majority of 10-2 on the count relating to the digital penetration.

After he was found guilty, his teenage victim said she felt "so broken". She said she had endured a year of being called a liar as Johnson continued to proclaim his innocence.

The player made his guilty pleas just before his trial began in February.

After the trial ended, a row erupted over just how much Sunderland AFC knew about what its player had done when it let him play on before finally sacking him earlier this year after his guilty pleas.

The club later said it was "so very sorry" for letting down its 15-year-old fan after chief executive Margaret Byrne resigned.

Ms Byrne admitted "a serious error of judgment" in advising the board that the star winger could carry on playing after he was initially suspended last March.

Johnson, a £10 million signing, helped the Wearside team to narrowly avoid relegation from the Premier League last year.

The player - who was capped 12 times for England - has a one-year-old daughter with Ms Flounders, who supported him during the court case but who told the jury they were now just friends.

Johnson walked into court chewing gum and wearing a blue suit, white shirt and a blue tie.

He walked quickly into the dock, adjusting the top button on his shirt.

Members of his family sat on the front seat of the public gallery.

He sat in dock with one security guard.

Prosecutor Kate Blackwell QC said he had no previous convictions and prior to the current prosecution had been a "man of good character".

Miss Blackwell told the court that there was a "significant disparity" in age between the defendant and the victim.

She said: "At the time of the commission of these offences, (the victim) was one month after her 15th birthday and the defendant was 27. He was all but twice her age, 13 years older. The Crown say it amounts to a significant disparity of ages between the two."

She added: "The most apparent feature in the view of the Crown is the severe psychological harm that the defendant has caused to the victim."

The court heard that the victim had suffered at school both in her schoolwork and with bullying because of Johnson's actions

The victim had even been approached by a stranger who questioned her relationship with the footballer when she was out.

Miss Blackwell read part of the girl's impact statement to the court, which said: "This whole experience has been overwhelming. Through the process I have had many hard times."

It added that she had even "felt at risk" going out.

The statement said that because Johnson had protested his innocence she "felt very intimidated by it all and felt very lonely. I have entered many dark places over this 12-month period and at times wanted to just shut the whole world out".

The statement went on to say that her school work had suffered "massively". She had been unable to attend lessons because of the stress relating to the case and she was under-achieving.

It continued: "Even after Adam pleaded guilty to the two charges, I have still been the subject of bullying. I'm pleased with the third guilty verdict as it proves to people that I was not lying.

"What happened a year ago completely changed my life."

She added that she hoped justice would now be done.

The teenager's mother said in a statement that her family had "taken no satisfaction" in the impact the case had on Johnson's family and stressed that at no time had they tried to seek any financial gain.

"My family and I take no satisfaction in the impact it has had on his family and football fans."

She added that her daughter had been the victim of thousands of "slanderous" and "malicious" remarks and threats of violence on social media.

The mother said she had felt "powerless".

"A mother's instinct is to protect and support their children."

The victim's mother continued: "It is impossible to put into words how devastating the whole situation has been. The impact upon her has been enormous."

Miss Blackwell said Sunderland football club must have known by May last year what their player had done.

She said Johnson continued to play, "earning his wages" and enjoying the "adoration of fans".

She said: "Why was this the fault of anyone except himself?"

The prosecutor also pointed to the harassment of the victim on social media, saying those close to him "encouraged and promoted" the abuse by providing a social media platform.

Miss Blackwell told the court: "He must have been aware of conduct carried out in his name."

Miss Blackwell said the defendant took advantage of the girl's "adulation".

She added: "This is not a fleeting contact or a fleeting offence, an isolated episode of messages with (victim). These offences were calculated, considered and carefully orchestrated.

"The Crown says he continues to present a risk to those in the victim's position."

The prosecutor also told the court that Johnson had a history of meeting girls for sex, describing it as a "clandestine habit".

Miss Blackwell said a medical report concluded Johnson "believes he has a right to sex".

She said the same report writer said that he believed his actions did not constitute an offence as he thought of the victim as a young woman not a child.

The prosecutor said he told one medic: "I treated her like any other girl I meet."

She said he added: "I put her age out of my mind...Her age never came into my mind."

Miss Blackwell said one report concluded Johnson has "a compulsive drive to have new sexual experiences".

Miss Blackwell said the prosecution believed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order should be imposed.

She said: "There is a need to protect teenagers and those in the position of (the girl) from sexual harm."

Dr Philip Hopley, a consultant psychiatrist giving evidence for the defence, told the court: "This is a man who, at the age of 28, is socially and psychologically immature."

Dr Hopley said Johnson developed very late physically and had low self confidence as a youngster.

He said he believed that as a professional footballer he developed his confidence and self-esteem very quickly and this, combined with the availability of willing women, led to his "compulsive sexual behaviour".

The doctor said he found no evidence in Johnson of an attraction to pre-pubescent children or "sexual perversion".

He said that during his meetings with Johnson the footballer was not "guarded" or measured in his replies.

He told the court Johnson had disclosed his activities to him.

Johnson's barrister Orlando Pownall QC asked him: "Did you perceive that he was trying to underestimate and mislead you?"

Dr Hopley replied: "No I did not."

Mr Pownall asked whether Johnson told him that sending explicit messages was "common practice amongst his fellow professional footballers and associates"?

The psychiatrist replied: "That is correct."

Mr Pownall said that Johnson had described an increasing availability of women, adding that "he never thought that what he was doing was wrong in his head".

The barrister added: "Did he appear to show remorse for his actions?"

Dr Hopley said: "Yes he did."

The psychiatrist added that Johnson had told him he had "lost every aspect of his life", adding: "I just want to let people I have hurt get on with their lives now."

Mr Pownall urged the judge not to "get carried away" in his sentencing.

He said: "We do invite the court to be proportionate."