Ex-England star Adam Johnson loses appeal over molesting 15-year-old fan

In court: Adam Johnson has appealed both his conviction and sentence for sexual activity with a teenage girl
Owen Humphreys/PA Wire
Jason Collie16 March 2017
WEST END FINAL

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Former England footballer Adam Johnson has lost his appeal after being convicted of molesting a besotted 15-year-old fan.

Three judges at the Court of Appeal in London announced their decision on Thursday morning after the 29-year-old had challenged both his conviction and six-year sentence.

At a recent hearing, Lady Justice Rafferty, Mr Justice Sweeney and the Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Julian Goose, heard renewed applications on Johnson’s behalf following a previous refusal by a single judge.

At the start of his trial at Bradford Crown Court, Johnson admitted grooming the girl and one charge of sexual activity with a child, relating to kissing her.

He denied there was any further sexual activity with the girl in his Range Rover when he met up with her in County Durham.

The former Sunderland and Manchester City winger was found guilty by a jury in March last year of one offence of sexual activity with a child. He was cleared of one charge relating to another sexual act.

Judge Jonathan Rose, when sentencing, said he was satisfied the girl suffered “severe psychological harm” and that Johnson took advantage of “a young teenager’s adoration of a successful celebrity”.

At the centre of his fight against conviction is a criticism that the trial judge “misdirected” the jury on issues of his “credibility”.

Eleanor Laws QC, representing Johnson at the Court of Appeal, argued that this must have had “an adverse and unfair impact on the credibility of Adam Johnson in a case where credibility was the central issue, hence the conviction is unsafe”.

But in the court's written ruling, Lady Justice Rafferty said that although the trial judge was in "error" in relation to a particular direction during summing up, "the error does not imperil the safety of the conviction".

The three judges were also asked to rule on a submission that the jail sentence imposed was "too much for this offence".

His QC had submitted: "When one looks at the sentencing judge's remarks, he was clearly highly influenced by the fact that the applicant was a famous and successful footballer and, in fact, counted that against him."

Dismissing the sentence application, Lady Justice Rafferty said the single judge wrote: "Although a sentence of six years may be stiff, even severe, I do not consider it to be arguable that it was manifestly excessive."

Lady Justice Rafferty added: "We agree."

Johnson played for England 12 times, scoring twice.

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