JERMAINE JENAS HAS apologised and said he is “ashamed” after being sacked by the BBC over messages to female colleagues, but insisted his behaviour was not illegal.

The Match Of The Day and The One Show presenter was removed by the BBC from the presenting line-ups on Thursday.

“I am ashamed, and I am deeply sorry,” the 41-year-old former footballer said in an interview with The Sun newspaper.

“I have let myself down, my family, friends and colleagues down, and I owe everyone an apology – especially the women with whom I was messaging. I am so, so sorry.

“I am sorry for what I have put them through. I think it would be fair to say I have a problem.

“I know I self-sabotage and have a self-destructive streak when it comes to my relationship especially, and I know I need help. And I am getting help.

“I have made a lot of mistakes, and I am asking myself a lot of questions at the moment. I know there’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and it will be hard.”

Jenas said he fell below the standard of responsibility that “needs to be upheld when you’re a member of the BBC”, but insisted there was no criminality involved.

“I did nothing illegal – these were inappropriate messages between two consenting adults,” he said.

But he admitted: “I’m not proud of what I wrote and what I said. And I do consider it cheating, yes, although nothing physical ever happened.

“This is all on me and I fully accept there is a level of responsibility that needs to be upheld when you’re a member of the BBC. And I fell below those standards. I must take the responsibility.”

Jenas said he felt as though he is “the number one target right now in the country” after allegations began to swirl around his sacking.

He told the newspaper: “These were two consenting adults I was speaking to. With one she made it clear she was interested.

“I don’t want to start going down the ‘who pursued who’ road, but when people are saying things that are wrong and false information is being spread, I do have to kind of defend my space.

“In that particular instance, there was an adult conversation that took place in a bar in London where that person made it very clear that they had an attraction to me. Yes there was alcohol involved but I take full responsibility.

“I feel people don’t know the truth and are forming opinions about me that aren’t accurate. I wasn’t going through some kind of BBC vault trying to get women’s numbers.

“I’m obviously going to say I’m not a sex pest. These were consenting adults I was texting.”

Jenas has been married to model Ellie Penfold for 13 years.