This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The sister of disgraced footballer Adam Johnson has posted a “Justice for Johnson” photograph on Facebook following his child sex offence convictions.

Faye Johnson posted a black-and-white image of her brother with his one-year-old daughter wearing a Sunderland AFC shirt with “Daddy” on the back.

The Facebook picture is titled “Justice for Johnson” and urges followers: “Change your profile picture to support Adam Johnson’s appeal. Facebook removed our group but we will not stop publicising our support #TeamAJ”.

It is the first public comment from Johnson’s family since he was found guilty at Bradford crown court last week of sexual activity with a child.

The former England and Sunderland player, 28, is facing a custodial sentence later this month. The judge said his preliminary view was that the case fell into the category of a five-year prison sentence with a range of four to 10 years. Johnson admitted kissing and grooming the 15-year-old schoolgirl and was found guilty of one count of sexual activity with a child. He was cleared of one further count.



Johnson’s barrister, Orlando Pownall QC, told the court he intended to appeal against the guilty verdict for child sexual activity. He was convicted after a jury returned a majority verdict of 10 to two.

Faye Johnson attended almost every day of her brother’s three-week trial, sitting in the public gallery alongside her father, Dave, and Johnson’s ex-girlfriend Stacey Flounders.

Her public show of support for her brother came hours after a Facebook page in support of Johnson was removed from the site.

More than 1,000 people “liked” the Adam Johnson Appeal Fight page before it was taken down. The page featured comments about his victim that angered members of the public, who complained to Facebook and asked for it to be removed.

Among those angry about the appeal page were the anonymous paedophile hunters, Dark Justice. One of the Tyneside-based pair said: “We think it’s crazy such a page even got made and some of the stuff said on there was sick. There was no need at all. We’re glad it’s gone.”