Adam Johnson's second appeal against child sex conviction unlikely to be heard this year

The Court of Appeal told the Echo that the ex-Sunderland AFC winger’s case is not classed as urgent and a hearing date is unlikely to be set until next year.

The former £60,000-per-week player was sacked from the club after his trial at Bradford Crown Court heard that he had kissed and sexually touched a 15-year-old girl in his Range Rover.

Trial judge Jonathan Rose was satisfied the girl had suffered “severe psychological harm” and that Johnson had taken advantage of “a young teenager’s adoration of a successful celebrity”.

A previous appeal, lodged by the former England international, was thrown out by a judge in March.

A second appeal is now in its early stages, according to the Court of Appeal and is in the process of being prepared for the court.

However, the 29-year-old dad-of-one will have to wait until next year to learn the date of the hearing because more urgent cases will take precedence.

A Court of Appeal spokesman told the Echo: “This is going to the summary writers, who summarise everything for the court, but it hasn’t been allocated a summary writer yet.

“There is no timescale for these cases.

“As soon as a summary has been completed, it will be going to the listings office.

“At the moment, the summary writers, the way they work is they do the urgent cases first and this is not in that bracket, in terms of his release date being quite a way off.

“I don’t think this will be ready for listing this year and might be looking to go into next year.”