'Lesbian' tennis coach accused of affair admits wearing 13-year-old pupil's knickers

Claire Lyte yesterday: Wore the girl's knickers at least twice

A tennis coach accused of having a lesbian affair with a 13-year-old player yesterday admitted that she had twice worn the girl's knickers.

Claire Lyte, 29, said she had put on the pink pants by mistake, even though they contained the girl's name tag.

She described the allegations of a lesbian affair as lies invented by the girl's 'wicked' mother.

Lyte, who was once one of the world's top 500 players and competed at Wimbledon, was being cross-examined during the second week of her trial accused of unlawful sexual activity with the girl.

She was allegedly found by the teenager's mother in October 2005 naked in bed with the girl and performing a sex act.

But Lyte, who became a coach after she was forced to retire through injury, insists this never happened and says she is heterosexual.

The affair is said to have continued for nearly a year while Lyte was coaching the girl at the Lawn Tennis Association's prestigious academy in Loughborough.

It was not until August last year that the girl's mother reported her suspicions to police, and they searched the house in Shirley, West Midlands, which Lyte shares with her parents. There they found a pair of pink knickers, marked with the girl's

name tag, inside a gift bag containing massage oil. The knickers were found to contain Lyte's DNA.

Yesterday she told the jury at Liverpool Crown Court that the girl must have left them behind when she was staying at the house while the rest of her family were abroad. Lyte said she later wore the knickers by mistake. 'I have my own pink pants as well and wouldn't have differknew about her daughter's infatuation with me. The girl has lied throughout.

'Why would she do this when I have done so much for her? I think her mum has persuaded her to lie. The mother began all this. She has been wicked and lied again and again.

'I think that the mother felt that I wanted her daughter out of the academy. This is just not true.'

Mr Davies said police had also found a 'love contract' written by the girl in which she had drawn the pair of them in bed together with the words 'You' and 'Me' over it.

Lyte was also questioned about gushing text messages from the girl, which were found on her mobile phone.

One said: 'What we have done isn't just amazing but f****** amazing and I really love you and love what's happened and never thought this would happen.'

Another told her to 'stop stressing' as bosses at the academy would never believe they were in a relationship. Asked what she made of them, Lyte said: 'I don't know what world she was in.' But she hadn't reported them to academy bosses because she felt 'insecure and embarrassed', she added.

Lyte denies five charges of sexual activity with a child. The trial continues today. entiated between them,' she said. 'I wouldn't have known what they were.' However, she said it was 'confusing' that she had not noticed the name tag before putting them on.

Lyte, wearing a tight-fitting turquoise dress, and hugging herself nervously, was asked by prosecuting counsel Peter Davies: 'Are you telling me that the family have lied about you, again and again?'

She replied: 'Yes, the family have all told lies. It's all made up. I think the mother

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