Former England and Sunderland footballer Adam Johnson has been found guilty of one count of sexual activity with a child but was cleared on a second count.
Jurors at Bradford Crown Court convicted the former Premier League winger by a majority of 10-2 after Judge Jonathan Rose said he would accept a majority verdict.
The 28-year-old 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 cleared of the oral sex charge this afternoon.
The charges against him arose from a meeting between Johnson and the girl in his car in County 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.”