Stan Mallon was arrested in Chicago last March

Stan Mallon was due to have been sentenced in Chicago on Thursday but the US judge hearing the case put off his sentencing for 24 hours.

The father-of-five from Crumlin in County Antrim has been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago since his arrest in March 2002.

He was held after he stopped off in Chicago as he travelled to a St Patrick's week celebration in Washington.

In June of last year, he pleaded not guilty to charges that he enticed a girl he believed to be 14-years-old to engage in sex and that he travelled between states to engage in sex with a minor.

Plea changed

But he changed his plea at a court hearing in October.

It is expected that Mallon will be jailed for between 2.5 years and 4.5 years, because a plea bargain arrangement was struck in return for his admission of guilt.

His lawyer is arguing that Mallon acted with diminished responsibility, and is presenting six motions for a lighter sentence.

At previous hearings, the US Federal Court was told the girl in question was actually an undercover police officer.

They said Mallon contacted the officer over the internet, believing she was a teenage girl.