FORMER £60,000-a-week Sunderland footballer Adam Johnson is facing being handed a lengthy jail term today (Thursday, March 24), over child sex offences.

The England international, of Castle Eden, is due to appear at Bradford Crown Court for sentencing after being convicted of a charge of serious sexual activity with a fan he knew to be aged 15.

Click here for live updates from Bradford Crown Court at the sentencing of former Sunderland footballer Adam Johnson

He will also be sentenced over kissing the schoolgirl and grooming her, in a relationship which involved 834 WhatsApp messages in little more than a month.

At the end of a three-week trial earlier this month, Judge Jonathan Rose said his preliminary view was that the case fell into the range of a four to ten-year jail sentence.

Telling Johnson to say goodbye to his one-year-old daughter, Ayla, the judge said: "The defendant must understand there is a very high probability of a significant custodial sentence."

Factors that could determine the length of the sentence include the 28-year-old's denial of all the allegations until the start of his trial, his position as a Premiership footballer and the statement of his schoolgirl victim.

In a statement following his conviction, Johnson's victim said she had been through the hardest year of her life, suffering vile abuse from fans after the allegations emerged.

Detective Inspector Aelfwynn Sampson, of Durham Police, added: "In our football-obsessed region, Adam Johnson had a responsibility as a professional footballer to be a role model, a role he did not fulfil."

The hearing will also include mitigation presented by Johnson's barrister, Orlando Pownall QC.

The sentencing hearing will be covered live from Bradford Crown Court on thenorthernecho.co.uk