Macclesfield resident and Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy has been freed on bail in advance of his trial on rape charges.

The French-born Prestbury Mendy, 27, accused of attacking five women between October 2020 and August 2021, was freed after a bail hearing at Chester Crown Court on Friday.

Benjamin Mendy in theory could play for the Premier League champions until his trial, but this seems unlikely giving the fact that the club is doing just fine without him.

The Sky Blues have not released a statement on the player, so it is presumed he remains suspended.

The World Cup winner has been in custody for 134 days, when he was first arrested and charged on August 26, after making one appearance for City in the 2021-22 season.

The footballer, held at HMP Altcourse and later HMP Manchester, was granted bail by Judge Patrick Thompson at a private hearing.

The exact terms of bail discussed are unknown, including whether the defender is allowed to play before his next day in court, or his subsequent trial, which is set to begin when the football season ends.

The local defendant was due to go on trial this month. However, it was postponed to June 27.

But Mendy was told he must live at his home address, being a multi-million home in Prestbury.

Mendy was also told not to get in touch with complainants, and give up his passport by midnight tonight.

Mendy agreed, and will return to his home on Withinlee Road, Prestbury, for the first time almost 20 weeks.

After bail had been discussed between lawyers for Mendy and the judge, Judge Thompson granted Mendy bail until January 24, the date of his next court hearing.

The left-back is accused of eight offences against five different women, and are believed to have taken place at his Macclesfield home.

The eight offences include seven counts of rape relating to four women and one count of sexual assault.

The charges are three counts of rape, alleged to have happened on October 11 2020; sexual touching on January 2 2021; two counts of rape on July 24 2021 and two counts of rape on August 23 2021.

Some of the offences occured when our area was in Tier 4 coronavirus restrictions, and social mixing between households were not allowed.

Mendy sat in a suit with his co-defendant, Louis Saha Matturie (40), of Eccles, Greater Manchester, whose bail is yet to be determined.

Matturie is accused of six counts of rape and one of sexual assault.

Further charges of one count of rape and one count of sexual assault were authorised for Matturie. The Mancunian will appear in court next week on the additional charges.

None of the women involved, as complainants of alleged sex offences, will be named as they gain automatic anonymity from the moment an accusation of a sex crime is made.

A decision on the application for bail by Matturie has yet to be made.

2022 would be Mendy's fifth year at Manchester City, and his fourth living in Macclesfield.

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