A former Manchester City player was told by a judge he faces jail after he admitted sexually assaulting a woman while she slept.

Ex-pro Chris Killen, 35, who also played for Oldham Athletic, touched the woman without consent as she slept at a home in Bury.

Killen had denied the charge, but on Wednesday - the day the trial was due to begin - he changed his plea to guilty.

This was entered with a basis of plea, which was not read out in court. No further details of the offence were given at the short hearing.

Previous hearings have been told the offence took place in Killen’s former mansion.

He was said to have gone into the spare bedroom, where the woman was sleeping, and touched her in a sexual way.

The mansion, previous hearings were told, had been rented out on the night in question last autumn.

Lisa Judge, defending, said Killen, of London Road, Adlington, near Macclesfield, had no relevant previous convictions.

He will be sentenced in six week’s time. A judge warned him ‘all options remain open’.

The case was adjourned for preparation of pre-sentence and psychiatric reports.

Judge Maurice Greene said: “This was a sexual assault on a sleeping woman in what was effectively her bed for the night so it falls within the top bracket [of sentencing guidelines]. It’s a serious matter.

He told Killen: “In adjourning I make no promises in regards to sentence and you must be clear that all sentencing options remain open.”

Gary Woodall, prosecuting, said Killen’s basis of plea was ‘inconsistent’ with the account given by the victim.

However, he said the CPS had lengthy discussions with the woman, in which she had ‘taken the lead’ and that prosecutors had decided to accept the basis of plea, meaning there would be no trial.

Killen, born in Wellington, New Zealand, joined Manchester City’s academy as a teenager in 1999, making just three first team appearances before he left to join Oldham Athletic in 2002.

He played more than 75 times in a four-year stint at Latics and also played for Hibernian, Celtic, Norwich and Middlesbrough during his 14 year career.

Killen’s last club was Chinese side Chongqing.

He scored 16 times in his 48 caps for New Zealand and appeared in the country’s three games at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Killen will be sentenced on August 1.