Three leading English footballers being held in a Spanish jail on charges of sexual assault have been locked up with rapists, paedophiles and other sex offenders, it has been revealed.

The three men, Paul Dickov, Keith Gillespie and Frank Sinclair, need protection in prison, their lawyer says, but they have no immediate chance of being released from prison on bail unless new evidence emerges.

As the three Leicester City players prepare to spend another night in their Spanish jail, their manager has revealed he had offered his resignation in the "darkest days" of the past week.

But Micky Adams still insists his players are "innocent until proven guilty" as the judge in Spain begins to consider their bail application.

Adams has criticized the players for drinking too much on their training break in the exclusive resort of La Manga but said he knew some of those arrested were "not there" when the alleged offences took place.

Relatives of the footballers have arrived in Spain to visit them at Sangonera prison.

Encarnacion Gomez, the lawyer for the three alleged victims, has opposed an application for bail, saying two of the footballers restrained one of the women while a third raped her.

In documents leaked to the media all three men deny the charges, but claim consensual sex took place with the three German women of African origin.

In Leicester, Adams told a press conference some players had let themselves down.

"If they are guilty of anything, it is of being unprofessional 24 hours before a training session, of being drunk to excess."

The bail applications are expected to be resolved by the end of the week.