Mother ‘found daughter in bed with tennis coach’

Oct 4 2007 By Sarah Chapman, Liverpool Daily Post

A MOTHER wept yesterday as she told a court of her "complete and utter shock" at finding her 13- year-old daughter having lesbian sex with the child’s tennis coach.

Claire Lyte, 29, allegedly had a sexual relationship with the Merseyside teenager while she coached her at a top tennis academy, Liverpool Crown Court has heard.

Lyte, of Solihull, West Midlands, denies five charges of sexual activity with a child.

The prosecution claims Lyte, a former professional tennis player and a coach at the Lawn Tennis Association Academy in Loughborough, had a relationship with the girl in 2005 and 2005.

The alleged victim’s mother told the court she returned home early from a party on October 2, 2005.

The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said she saw two pairs of tennis shoes outside her daughter’s bedroom, and opened the door to find her daughter and the tennis coach, who was 27 at the time, naked on a bed.

She said she saw them indulging in a sex act together.

The mother-of-two wiped away tears and said: "I was in complete shock and I screamed and they became aware that I was there.

"My daughter jumped up and ran off and Claire pulled the sheet over her head.

"I shouted at them to get some clothes on and come downstairs.

"I was screaming at Claire, ‘Get out! What have you done? What have you done to my child? You’re nothing but a paedophile’.

"They came downstairs dressed and my daughter sat down in a chair and curled into a ball, Claire sat with her head in her hands.

"I was in complete and utter shock, I kept asking, ‘Why?’

"Claire kept telling me she loved my daughter and I kept saying, ‘She’s 13’."

She told the court she left her daughter to go to a party because she needed some space and allowed Lyte to remain in the family home until she returned.

The mother said she talked to Lyte for hours about what had happened, but did not call the tennis academy nor the police.

She told the jury her daughter became withdrawn and distant and she felt as though Lyte was controlling her.

The woman told the court she tried to sort out the situation with Lyte’s parents, after the coach’s father called her and pleaded with her. For several months after the alleged incident, the mother admitted she allowed her daughter to stay with Lyte’s family overnight and go shopping with her, claiming she needed to build some trust with her daughter.

But, after seeing Lyte wearing her daughter’s clothes after a tennis tournament in Edinburgh, and claiming Lyte was dismissive of her, the mother decided to call police.

She said when her daughter found out about this, the mother said she climbed on to a roof and threatened to kill herself.

Cross-examining the mother, defence barrister David Mason suggested the sex incident had not taken place at all.

She said: "This happened.

"I am telling the truth."

The case continues.