Adam Johnson told in court: ‘Say goodbye to your daughter’

Former England footballer Adam Johnson has been told to “say goodbye to your daughter” after being warned there is a “very high probability” he will be jailed for a “significant” length of time after being convicted of one count of sexual activity with a child.

Jurors at Bradford Crown Court found the former Sunderland FC winger guilty by a majority of 10-2 after Judge Jonathan Rose said he would accept a majority verdict.

The disgraced star was cleared by the jury on a second count — oral sex with a child — after the trial, which lasted more than two weeks.

Johnson, 28, admitted grooming a 15-year-old girl and sexual activity with the teenager, relating to kissing her in his Range Rover, but denied the two more serious charges of sexual activity with a child — one involving oral sex and another involving digital penetration. He was found guilty of the latter charge.

The charges against him arose from a meeting between Johnson and the girl in his car in Co Durham on January 30 last year.

Judge Rose said a custodial sentence is “the almost inevitable outcome” but granted Johnson bail until the hearing, which will be held at a later date.

There was no obvious reaction to the verdict from Johnson, who was sitting in the dock with two security guards.

The judge said his preliminary view was that the case falls into the category of a five-year prison sentence with a range of four to 10 years.

He said: “The defendant must understand there is a very high probability of a significant custodial sentence.”

Just before he left the dock, Judge Rose told Johnson that being released on bail meant he could get his “affairs in order”.

He said: “You can say goodbye to your daughter. A prison sentence will mean you will not see her for some time.”

Explaining his bail conditions, the judge said Johnson would be “well advised to stay well away from social media”.

In a statement the victim said this had been the worst year of her life. She said: “I felt used and let down by him. It’s been the hardest year of my life and I’ve had to face so much abuse after he claimed his innocence.

“I was made out to be a liar, if anything, I held things back because I didn’t want all of this to come out.

“What happened in his car has turned my life upside down. I have lost all of my confidence. My school work has suffered. There are people out there who have made assumptions about me and that alone has been hard to deal with. I have been unable to defend myself publically. “

She went on: “The last 12 months have been horrendous and there have been times when I’ve wanted to hide away from the world. There have been times I haven’t felt able to face people. There have been times when I’ve tried not to show people how upset I am, but sometimes it hasn’t been possible and I’d just cry. I’ve felt so broken.

“I’ve been in some very dark places over that time and I thought the trial and giving evidence, having my say, would give me closure. But it didn’t. It put me back into the same dark places and I felt worse than I’ve ever felt before. This was because I still didn’t feel believed. I hope Adam realises the hurt and damage he has caused. I now want to put this awful experience behind me and begin to rebuild my life.”

In a statement issued after the case, Sunderland FC said it “refuted” any suggestion the club knew all along that Johnson was intending to change his plea just before his trial so he could continue to play for them, and that the club may have been involved in tactical discussions about the plea.

“Had the club known that Mr Johnson intended to plead guilty to any of these charges, then his employment would have been terminated immediately,” the statement said.

“Indeed, upon learning of the guilty plea on 11 February 2016, the club acted quickly and decisively in terminating Adam Johnson’s contract without notice. The club did not give evidence either for the prosecution or the defence in this case.

“It was therefore not present in court when it is understood that a suggestion was made that the club knew all along that Mr Johnson was intending to change his plea just before trial to enable him to continue to play football for the club and that the club may also have been involved in tactical discussions about the plea.

“This is utterly without foundation and is refuted in the strongest possible terms.

“The club never placed any pressure or demands on Mr Johnson to play football during this process.”