Former England international Adam Johnson has been released from prison after serving three years for child sex offences.
The former Sunderland and Manchester City winger was sentenced to six years for engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old fan in 2016.
He was released from HMP Moorland, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, in the early hours of Friday and was driven in a people carrier with blacked-out rear windows to his mansion in County Durham.
At the gated property, Johnson’s father Dave briefly spoke to reporters and told them it was good to have his son home before saying a statement might be issued later on.
Johnson admitted kissing the girl but denied her claim that he touched her inside her pants and that she then performed oral sex on him.
A jury found him guilty of sexual activity with a child in relation to “digital penetration” but cleared him of the same offence relating to the oral sex.
He had already admitted another charge of sexual activity with a child in relation to kissing and also of grooming the girl.
The judge said Johnson had lied repeatedly, referring to the controversy over whether he delayed his guilty pleas to enable him to continue his £60,000-a-week career with Sunderland.
As a sex offender, Johnson will have to register his address and bank details with police and inform officers of any intention to travel abroad.
The children’s services department from the local council may also carry out risk assessments in relation to Johnson’s daughter Ayla, and could prevent Johnson from spending time alone with his daughter.
