Keith Gillespie, Frank Sinclair and Paul Dickov at Alicante airport

The warning has come from the lawyer representing the three women who made the original accusations.

The bomb attacks in Madrid have led to a backlog at forensic laboratories with all other cases being delayed.

Paul Dickov, Frank Sinclair and Keith Gillespie deny assaulting three women in a La Manga hotel.

Seek dismissal

Items related to the footballers' case sent for analysis and now at the bottom of the ever-growing queue.

Encarnacion Gomez, is representing the three women who made the accusations more than two weeks ago.

Senora Gomez said: "Normally we would have to wait at least a month, probably more before the results of forensic tests come back.

"But now it could be very many weeks or even longer."

She added: "If the judge does decide there should be a trial it could take about a year to come to court."

The defence lawyer Ana Ruiperez says she intends to seek a dismissal of the case if the DNA and other forensic tests are negative.