Former England footballer Adam Johnson was sentenced to six years in prison at Bradford Crown Court on Thursday for engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old fan.

The former Sunderland and Manchester City star was found guilty of sexual activity with the teenager following an incident in his Range Rover car in County Durham, north-east England, last year.

Johnson, 28, had admitted another charge of sexual activity with a child and grooming the girl.

Judge Jonathan Rose, passing sentence, said the victim -- who cannot be named for legal reasons -- had been a Sunderland fan who would wait after matches to take pictures of her "favourite player", Johnson, who had known her age.

"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," said the judge.