Former Leicester City defender Frank Sinclair fears his reputation has been permanently damaged by false rape allegations.

Sinclair and his then Leicester team-mates Paul Dickov and Keith Gillespie were falsely accused of raping a woman in a Spanish hotel room while the club was on a training break in the La Manga resort.

All charges against them were dropped last week after DNA evidence proved none of the players had had any contact with the three women who originally complained to the police.

But Sinclair told the BBC the trio would "always be remembered as the ones that were accused rather than the ones that didn't do it".

Leicester had failed to set their players a curfew on the night of the incident.

Sinclair said: "I think clubs will change the way they do things now. If we did have a curfew we would definitely have been home a bit earlier."

Sinclair struggled to cope during his time in prison. He said: "It was quite shocking. I had never been in prison before.

"Some people could take it a little bit easier than others but it was hard for me to deal with."

When the charges were dropped, Sinclair said a prayer.

"I remember just lying in bed looking at the ceiling, thanking God that this has had all been sorted out and my girlfriend saying to me, 'Well, cheer up will you?"'

The 32-year-old is on the look out for a new club having been released by Leicester at the end of the season.

Leicester were relegated from the Premiership and Sinclair was not surprised to be shown the door.

"That situation that happened in Spain along with a few injuries I had had earlier in the season made it a total nightmare for me," he said.