Former Sunderland winger and England international Adam Johnson has been jailed for six years for sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl, a judge Bradford Crown Court ruled today.
Judge Jonathan Rose sentenced Johnson with the crime after the footballer had previously pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual activity along with grooming the girl. The judge stated that Johnson’s crimes were “the most serious of their type”, saying that Johnson had betrayed the young Sunderland fans trust after having groomed her over the course of 800 text messages.
Rose said that Johnson had displayed “no remorse” during the course of trial, which had seen Johnson laughing outside the court in a previous trial and discussing how he was “bored” of the legal proceedings that followed his arrest last year. Rose also discussed how Johnson had lied during the course of the trial, opening up the victim to harassment from his peers and by football fans. “Your messages to the victim were quite clear,” Rose added. “You asked to meet in a secluded place, told her to delete your messages.”
The court previously heard how the victim had received targeted abuse online and in person as a result of Johnson’s crime, with her identity having been posted online and her having been accosted in the street by strangers.
Detective Inspector Aelfwynn Sampson provided a statement regarding the charge, saying: “Fame, celebrity and a position of power does not give you the right to break the law in pursuit of whatever you desire.
“Members of the public are clearly entitled to express their opinions but the law remains clear and Adam Johnson broke it.”
Johnson must also pay £50,000 of the prosecution’s costs along with his prison sentence.
[Via BBC]
