Footballer Adam Johnson has been sentenced to six years in prison for engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old fan.
The former England international showed no emotion as he was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court. Johnson, who played for Sunderland and Manchester City, was found guilty of sexual activity with the teenager following an incident in his Range Rover in Durham in 2015.
The 28-year-old admitted another charge of sexual activity with a child and grooming the girl. Johnson stood with his hands behind his back as Judge Jonathan Rose passed sentence.
He said the victim had been a Sunderland fan who would wait after matches to take pictures of her "favourite player", who knew her age.
Picture by: Scott Heppell / AP/Press Association Images
Judge Jonathan Rose 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 it had been Johnson's intention to engage in sexual activity with the girl, knowing she was under 16.
The judge said the winger 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".
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