British prosecutors have dropped the spot-fixing cases against former Jamaica international Ian ‘Pepe’ Goodison and 12 other footballers, international media reported yesterday.

The decision comes after the Crown Prosecution Service announced it was no longer necessary to pursue their action against 13 footballers, who were being investigated as there was not enough evidence to “provide a realistic prospect of conviction”.

Prosecutors said they had looked at the “reliability of the evidence” in light of the collapse of the trial of former X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos that led to a number of cases linked to journalist Mazher Mahmood, known as the ‘Fake Sheikh’ being reviewed.

Goodison and a Tranmere Rovers team-mate Akpo Sodje were among six players from Football League clubs based in the north-west of England, who were re-arrested last year in connection with alleged spot-fixing after they were first arrested in December 2013 over the allegations.

Seven others were also arrested over the claims.

The original six suspects were arrested after information was passed to the authorities by the tabloid newspaper the Sun on Sunday for which Mahmood worked.

It was disclosed that then-Blackburn Rovers striker DJ Campbell and former Oldham Athletic winger Cristian Montano had been arrested as part of the probe, but both players maintained their innocence.

The newspaper also published claims that former Portsmouth player Sam Sodje had told an undercover reporter that he could arrange yellow and red cards in exchange for money.

Spot-fixing is where a player corruptly influences a specific element of a match, for example by intentionally getting a yellow card or conceding a corner, without trying to fix the final score.

Goodison, a France World Cup veteran, left Tranmere last summer at the age of 41, after 10 years at the club, while Akpo Sodje was released in April 2014.