Adam Johnson Convicted Of Child Sex Charge

Footballer Adam Johnson could face up to 10 years in jail after being found guilty of one charge of sexual activity with a child.

The former Sunderland winger, who was convicted of touching a 15-year-old girl intimately, was told by the judge a "significant custodial sentence" was highly probable.

Earlier in the day, Johnson was cleared of another similar charge - relating to a sex act.

Before his trial started last month, Johnson had admitted grooming the 15-year-old girl and sexual activity with the teenager, relating to kissing her in his car.

However the ex-England footballer, who has now been released on bail, had denied the two more serious charges of sexual activity with a child.

Johnson sat in the dock with his hands on his knees after a jury convicted him by a majority of 10-2.

The judge said a custodial sentence was "the almost inevitable outcome".

His preliminary view was the case came under the category of a five-year prison sentence with a range of four to 10 years, he said.

The judge added: "The defendant must understand there is a very high probability of a significant custodial sentence."

But he granted Johnson bail until a hearing at a later date, and he faced a throng of photographers and reporters as he left Bradford Crown Court.

The 28-year-old exchanged hundreds of social media messages with the girl which he encouraged her to delete, the court heard.

Johnson met her in his Range Rover in County Durham on January 30 last year and he admitted he kissed her in the vehicle.

But the girl told a jury that the encounter went much further.

In a statement read by police outside court, the victim said she felt "used and let down" by the footballer, describing the last 12 months as the "hardest year of my life".

She added: "I have had to face so much abuse after he claimed his innocence and I was made out to be a liar.

"What happened in his car has turned my life upside down, I have lost all of my confidence, and my school work has suffered."

Sunderland FC said it "refuted" any suggestion the club knew all along that Johnson was intending to change his plea just before his trial so he could continue to play for them.

And it also "refused" any suggestion that the club may have been involved in tactical discussions about the plea.