US comedian Bill Cosby admitted in 2005 obtaining sedatives with the intent of giving them to women he wanted to have sex with.

The US star made the admission in a civil law suit and documents from that case have only just been made public.

More than 40 women have come forward in the past year to claim that Cosby sexually assaulted them - some also believing they were drugged.

Cosby admitted under oath he had obtained Quaaludes, known as Mandrax in Ireland, after a woman named Andrea Constand sued him for allegedly drugging and assaulting her.

In his deposition, Cosby admitted giving it to at least one woman but claimed he had only given Ms Costand the allergy medicine Benadryl.

The case was settled for an undisclosed amount in 2006.

Cosby's lawyers tried to stop the information being released, arguing it would cause him serious embarrassment but the AP news agency won the right to make the documents public.

Celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, who is representing many of the alleged victims, said it "confirms the allegations of numerous victims who have alleged that he had used drugs to sexually assault them".

The actor-comedian, best known for hit sitcom 'The Cosby Show', has never been criminally charged.

Many of the claims date back to the 1970s and are too old for him to face legal proceedings.

But the star has seen his career nosedive since the allegations started to pile up, with TV shows and live events being cancelled.

Cosby’s representatives have dismissed previous claims as "absolutely false" but have yet to respond to the release of the court documents.