Former England footballer, Adam Johnson
Former England footballer, Adam Johnson has been jailed for six years for engaging in sexual activity with a 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.
Judge Rose said the girl had "suffered severe psychological harm" as he delivered the 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
knew 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."
The judge said Johnson had exchanged more than 800 messages with her, which had largely been innocent.
"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."
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.
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.
Source: 9news
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