Adam Johnson could be moved to 'softer' prison as he serves sex offence sentence

The ex-England player is serving a six-year term after he was sentenced last month for two counts of sexual activity with a child and one of grooming.

It has been reported by The Sun he will not spend his term in a Category A jail, with a Category B or C prison.

That could be HMP Holme House in Stockton, which has its own all-weather pitch and offers offenders jobs in its canteen, laundry, woodmill, textile section, IT projects and land-based and waste management.

The Category B complex has single, as well as double cells.

HMP Durham, also a Category B jail, also offers its criminals access to an astroturf playing field.

He is currently at Armley jail in Leeds and it had been thought he would go to HMP Frankland in Durham, which counts the Soham murder Ian Huntley among its inmates.

A spokeswoman for the Prison Service has said it does not comment on individual prisoners.

At the weekend, a note from Johnson was posted on the Adam Johnson's Appeal Fight Facebook page, thanking his fans for their support and letters.

The former Premiership star, from Castle Eden, has lodged an appeal against his conviction for sexually touching an under age fan.

He was jailed for six years following a trial at Bradford Crown Court, which saw him plead guilty to grooming and a charge of sexual activity with the girl after he kissed her in his car on the first day of the three-week hearing.

Johnson, who was sacked by Sunderland following his admissions, was acquitted of a third charge of sexual activity, in which it was alleged that the girl performed a sex act on him.

Judge Jonathan Rose sentenced him, to five years for the sexual touching charge, one year for grooming, to run consecutively, and four months for kissing, to run concurrently.