Gillespie on sex charge

Keith Gillespie has been remanded in a Spanish jail

Northern Ireland winger Keith Gillespie is one of three Leicester City players who have been formally charged with an alleged sexual assault.

Gillespie, 29, has been remanded in custody in Spain along with team mates Paul Dickov and Frank Sinclair.

They are in the Sangorinera La Verde prison in Murcia after being arrested along with eight team mates following allegations from three German women in Cartagena.

Team-mate James Scowcroft was ordered to pay 20,000 euro (£13,300) bail and has to report to a Spanish consulate in the UK twice a month.

He has been questioned over claims of breaking and entering and failing to assist a victim of a crime.

Charges against Matt Elliott and Lilian Nalis were dropped on Friday.

This is not good for Leicester City Football Club, this is not good for the game Paul Mace Leicester City

Friday's court proceedings were held behind closed doors in Cartagena.

The Premiership club were training at the La Manga sports complex when three German women say they were assaulted by men who broke into their hotel bedroom.

The women gave evidence for a second day on Friday.

The women and the six players had given evidence on Thursday.

Three other players have been released.

Danny Coyne and Nikos Dabizas, questioned over breaking and entering and failing to help the women, were provisionally released while Steffen Freund, quizzed about failing to help a victim of crime, was released without charge.

Later on Friday at a press conference at the club's Walker Stadium, the club's chief operating officer Paul Mace said their lawyers were working at bringing the players back to England.

"We still have three players detained in Spain and will now be concentrating all our efforts with our legal representatives to try to secure their release as soon as is practically possible," he said.

'Disappointing'

He added "something has gone seriously wrong" during the training visit to La Manga which had "undermined" preparations for an upcoming game against Birmingham City.

He did not want to prejudge the investigations by the Spanish authorities nor the club, but said: "We have every confidence in the Spanish judicial system that justice will be done.

"I think that the three players, in common with the other six players who have been released by police and are free to return home, have at all stages of discussions with our representatives protested their innocence in the strongest possible terms."

The nine players were arrested after the three women complained to police at Alicante airport, as they were about to fly home to Germany.

The women were persuaded by police to remain in the country to be interviewed, police said.

The alleged victims were found to have suffered injuries to various parts of their body when examined by doctors at Alicante general hospital and police doctors.

They separately identified by photograph the footballers alleged to have been involved.

The rest of the Leicester squad have flown home from Spain.