Tributes paid to crash victims
Charity hails grooming law as fiend Johnson gets jail release
Johnson’s ex Stacey yesterday Footballer’s father Dave yesterday THE father of paedophile footballer Adam Johnson has said he is glad to have him home after his jail release.
Dave Johnson picked up the ex-england and Sunderland star, 31, after his midnight flit from Moorland Prison in Doncaster.
Hours later yesterday, he greeted reporters at the gates of Johnson’s new €2.3million mansion in County Durham. Asked if he was glad to have him home, he said: “Yes, we are.”
Johnson – who did three years of a sixyear term for grooming and sexual activity with a girl of 15 – must report to the probation service and sign the sex offenders register.
As he was freed, the NSPCC said perverts like him can now be stopped sooner thanks to a law change tackling online grooming.
Johnson’s 2016 trial heard he started communicating with his victim in late 2014, while thenpartner Stacey Flounders was pregnant. He met and assaulted the girl in January 2015.
The offence of sexual commu- nication with a child was introduced in April 2017. Offenders face two years and automatically go on the sex offenders register. The NSPCC’S Almudena Lara said: “Johnson bombarded his victim with crude messages and a loophole meant it was legal. He used [them] to groom her, then went on to sexually assault her.” She said 5,000 crimes have been recorded in England and Wales under the new law, adding: “People like Johnson can no longer get away with sending children sexual messages.” Johnson will have to register his address and bank details with police and tell them of any intention to travel abroad. His local council could also do risk assessments in relation to his daughter, aged 4, which could stop him being alone with her. Meanwhile, Britain’s Ministry of Justice said Johnson did not get preferential treatment when he was freed, saying “release at that time [midnight] is not common but also not unusual”. Dave picks up son in the early hours TRIBUTES were paid last night to a mum who was one of two people killed in a car crash yesterday.
Rachel Coughlan, in her 30s, and a man in his 70s died after their vehicles collided on Drumcondra Road Lower near the junction of Hollybank Road, North Dublin, at around 6.30am.
Local councillor Janice Boylan led tributes to the tragic mum of two young sons and said it was “very sad news” for the community.
She added: “RIP Rachel.
My thoughts and prayers are with your family and friends.”
Ms Boylan also passed on her sympathies to the tragic pensioner who lost his life.
Gardai are appealing for witnesses to the fatal collision to contact Mountjoy
Garda station on 01 6668600. Doncaster jail where he was held