SUNDERLAND defender Titus Bramble has been suspended by his club over allegations of sexual assault and possession of a class A drug.

The 30-year-old former Newcastle United player was held by Cleveland Police following an incident in the early hours of Wednesday.

He was released on bail after being questioned for 15 hours by detectives.

A statement from the club said: “Sunderland AFC has confirmed that Titus Bramble has been suspended from duties, pending the outcome of a club investigation.

“The player will not attend team training or be available for selection for matches during this period.

“The club is unable to make any further comment on the matter at present.”

Bramble, who played in his team’s 2-1 defeat at Norwich on Monday, was arrested last year by Northumbria Police over an alleged rape in a Newcastle hotel but he was later released without charge.

Bramble’s career started at his home town club Ipswich before he moved to Newcastle under Sir Bobby Robson for £6m. He joined Wigan Athletic and then moved back to the North East with Sunderland last year.

The powerful but sometimes error-prone centre back has been picked 10 times for England’s Under-21s.

Last month Titus’s brother, Tesfaye, 31, of Ipswich, was jailed after he was found guilty of raping a 19-year-old woman in Newcastle’s Vermont Hotel.

Titus attended the week-long trial in Leeds, giving evidence in his brother’s defence.

The victim said she met the brothers and two of their friends in the VIP area of Madame Koo’s bar in Newcastle in September last year.

They went to a hotel and she fell asleep in a single bed, but when she woke, a “big black figure” was on top of her.

Tesfaye Bramble told the jury he had got into the bed to “try my luck” and the sex had been consensual. The jury heard in his police interview, Tesfaye Bramble said: “They don’t just come back to the hotel to go to sleep.”