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Footballer sentenced for underage sex

Judge Jonathan Rose told Bradford Crown Court that Johnson, who showed no emotion as he was jailed, left his victim with “severe psychological harm”.

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He will also be sentenced over kissing the schoolgirl and grooming her, in a relationship which involved 834 WhatsApp messages in little more than a month.

She said the same report writer said the footballer believed his actions did not constitute an offence as he thought of the victim as a young woman not a child.

“I remain proud of my big brother and I am 100 per cent behind him and I always will be”.

The player had already admitted another count of the same offence and also grooming the girl, who idolised him.

The former Sunderland winger is in court awaiting sentencing.

The charges relate to a meeting between the girl and Johnson in his Range Rover in County Durham on 30 January 2015. He was cleared of one further count of sexual activity with a child.

After he was found guilty, his teenage victim said she felt “so broken”.

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”.

Sunderland, which had initially declined to comment on the grounds the case was ongoing, then chose to sack the midfielder last month in light of his guilty plea. He had earlier pleaded guilty to grooming and kissing the child.

The fall-out from the case saw Sunderland chief executive Margaret Byrne resign on March 8.

A £10 million signing, Johnson helped the Wearside team avoid relegation from the Premier League past year.

Mr Pownall said: ‘He has been stripped of his England caps.

Johnson, a one-time England golden boy, sauntered into the dock wearing a sharp suit and chewing gum on Thursday, after trying to dodge waiting photographers outside court.

He walked quickly into the dock, adjusting the top button on his shirt.

The arrest was mentioned in hearings at Durham Crown Court prior to Johnson’s trial.

He sat in dock with one security guard.

Prosecutor Kate Blackwell QC said: “She often waited for him after home matches, hoping to catch a glimpse of him before he drove away, keen for any contact, an autograph or, even better, a photograph”.

Johnson was fully aware that his victim was just one month past her 15th birthday when he started to message her on December 31 2014, it was said.

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“Johnson, a 28-year-old man, picked out a 15-year-old girl”.

Adam Johnson who is set to be sentenced over child sex offences