A tennis coach accused of having an affair with a 13-year-old girl has admitted wearing the girl’s pink underwear.

Claire Lyte, 29, a coach at the Lawn Tennis Association’s training academy at Loughborough, denied that her choice of underwear was a sign of intimacy, insisting that she had simply picked them out at random and put them on without noticing the teenager’s name tag.

Under cross-examination at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday, the former professional tennis player maintained that she had been the victim of a series of “wicked lies” and that the girl had been persuaded by her mother to make up her story about a sexual relationship.

The prosecution claims that the mother, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, returned unexpectedly one Sunday in October, 2005, to discover the coach and daughter in bed having sex.

Ms Lyte said that the mother concocted the story after it became clear that the girl, a promising junior, would not make the grade as a professional.

Peter Davies, for the prosecution, asked: “Are you telling me that the family has lied about you, again and again?”

Ms Lyte replied: “Yes, the family have all told lies. It is all made up. I think the mother knew about her daughter’s infatuation with me. I think the sister felt that I tried to take over her role as the sister. She has a grudge against me.

“The girl has also 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 the mother felt that I wanted her daughter out of the academy but this is just not true.”

She was questioned about a pair of knickers that police found in her bedroom, inside a gift bag containing massage oils and lotion. Forensic examination suggested that she had worn them at least twice.

Ms Lyte said that she had not realised she was wearing them, even though they had the girl’s name on them. “I would not knowingly wear a pair of pants with her name tag in them,” she said. “That is what is confusing, that I put them on and did not notice the name tag.”

Ms Lyte suggested that the knickers had been left behind after the girl stayed at her parents’ home in Solihull, West Midlands. They had been laundered by her mother and mistakenly put in the cupboard.

The coach said she had not chosen to wear them but picked them out randomly, believing that they were her own. “I have my own pink pants as well and would not have differentiated between them,” she said. “I would not have known what they were.”

Mr Davies raised the issue of the intimate text messages sent by the teenager to the coach. One read, “I love you much. Forever yours, your little baby”, and another, “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”.

Ms Lyte said that she had been worried about the messages but felt unable to inform her employers because she felt insecure about her position at the academy and embarrassed about the content.

“I do not know what world she was in,” she said. But, she said, she had realised the girl was troubled. “I just did not want any more problems brought up or suggestions made to her that would make her more uncomfortable than she was at that time.”

The trial continues.

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