Former England footballer Adam Johnson has lost a challenge against his conviction for sexual activity with a besotted 15-year-old fan.

His application for permission to appeal was dismissed by three judges in London today.

The Court of Appeal judges also rejected his bid for a reduction in his six-year jail sentence.

The decisions in renewed applications made by 29-year-old Johnson - following earlier refusals by a single judge - were made by Lady Justice Rafferty, Mr Justice Sweeney and the Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Julian Goose.

At the start of his trial at Bradford Crown Court, Johnson admitted one charge of sexual activity with a child, relating to kissing her. He also admitted a charge of meeting a child with intent following grooming her.

He denied there was any further sexual activity with her in his Range Rover when he met up with her in County Durham in January 2015.

But the former Sunderland and Manchester City winger was found guilty by a jury in March last year of one offence of sexual activity with a child.

After the ruling, an NSPCC spokesman said: “It’s frightening to think that it is still not illegal for an adult to send a sexually explicit message to a child.

"Johnson was able to bombard his young victim with hundreds of messages, but could only be prosecuted for physically meeting her.

“This kind of online grooming would be an offence if the messages were sent in Scotland, but police in England and Wales are still powerless to intervene because anti-sexting laws created two years ago have yet to be enacted.

“The Government’s delay in outlawing this kind of grooming is a disgrace.

"Hopefully today will act as reminder to Justice Secretary Liz Truss who must act urgently to fix this flaw in the law and stop abuse before it starts.”