FOOTBALLER ADAM JOHNSON CONVICTED OF CHILD SEX CHARGE

Adam Johnson Image: SkyNews

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

Johnson, who was convicted of touching a 15-year-old girl intimately, was told by a judge he would received a "substantial prison sentence".

According to Skynews, the 28-year-old defendant was cleared of another similar charge, relating to him and the teenager allegedly engaging in a sex act.

Before his trial started at Bradford Crown Court last month, Johnson had admitted grooming the girl and sexual activity with her, relating to kissing her in his car.

However, the ex-England footballer had denied the two more serious charges of sexual activity with a child.

The footballer had exchanged hundreds of social media messages with the teenager which he encouraged her to delete, Bradford Crown Court heard.

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

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

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

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: "You must understand that when you return here at the end of March you will receive a substantial prison sentence."

The former Sunderland winger was released on bail and Judge Jonathan Rose advised him to say goodbye to his one-year-old daughter as he would not see her "for some time".

As he left court, Johnson faced a throng of photographers and reporters.

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 schoolwork has suffered."

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