London Calling
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Whilst obviously, a film needs to be made of this sordid affair....................stunningly, the mum did not report the relationship to the Police until, her daughter young career was going no where!!
"Tennis coach Claire Lyte told she faces prison for lesbian sex with pupil aged 13
Russell Jenkins
She claimed that she was the innocent victim of the ambitious and pushy world of tennis, that she was a coach who had done nothing but nurture and bring out the best in her charges. But a jury saw through the smokescreen put up by the woman who committed the ultimate betrayal, conducting an illict, year-long sexual affair with her young pupil.
Claire Lyte’s life was in tatters yesterday after a judge told her that she would go to prison for molesting her 13-year-old female student.
Lyte, 29, wearing a tailored green dress, looked disbelieving in the dock, her head resting on a hand, as the jury at Liverpool Crown Court returned guilty verdicts at the end of a two-and-a-half-week trial.
The judge, Nigel Gilmour, QC, took the unusual step of praising the jury for rejecting the coach’s defence that the allegations were invented by an ambitious mother made bitter by her daughter’s faltering hopes of a professional tennis career.
Not an issue of sexual preference: an issue of trust
Affair was forced on me, says tennis starlet
Lyte, who coached Britain’s young elite at the Lawn Tennis Association training academy at Loughborough, ignored official warnings by her employers after she and the girl were seen sharing a toilet cubicle. She went on to develop a sexual relationship with the child and shared hotel bedrooms with her as she took part in tournaments on the junior circuit.
The girl, now 15, described being threatened into doing what her coach demanded because of the power that she wielded over her career. She sobbed as she told how her mother discovered them engaged in oral sex on her bed at home on Merseyside.
The case has forced the LTA into a radical restructuring of its youth academy scheme so that players at an impressionable age can now stay at home while they attend one of fourteen centres around the country.
After 11 hours and 44 minutes of deliberation the jury found Lyte guilty of four out of five charges of unlawful sexual activity between May 2005 and June last year. They failed to reach a verdict on one charge.
Judge Gilmour bailed her to reappear next month for sentencing, warning her: “These are offences where a custodial sentence is inevitable — the issue is the length of sentence.”
Earlier the judge told the jury that he had invited the defendant to reconsider her not-guilty plea before the start of the trial because of the overwhelming strength of evidence against her but had been met with a firm determination to go to trial.
He told them that if in the days to come they should look back on their verdict and wonder whether it was the right one, they should know that it was. Their verdicts, each reached by a majority of ten to two, coincided entirely with his own view.
The mother of the victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was not in court to hear the verdict.
Lyte seduced her pupil into a sexual relationship in May 2005 when her mother was away. She began by holding the child’s hand and kissing her, but it was a prelude to oral sex.
LTA staff watched the couple becoming close with alarm, instituting disciplinary proceedings when they were spotted sharing a staff lavatory cubicle on several occasions. She was later issued with a written warning.
The coach took to wearing her pupil’s clothes, including her underwear, and adopted a similar hairstyle and mannerisms. The pupil, infatuated by the attention, sent a series of intimate texts to her mobile phone.
On one Sunday early in October 2005, Lyte ferried the teenager home about 2pm from a tournament in the North of England where she had lost her match. The girl’s mother had gone to a party.
The girl later recalled for police how she had gone for a shower and returned to her bedroom to find her coach waiting for her. She said that the coach undressed first her and then herself. They kissed and lay on the bed where they had oral sex.
Peter Davies, for the prosecution, told the jury: “The mother left the party early because she was concerned she was not dressed correctly. She recalls going up the stairs, noticing two pairs of tennis shoes. She pushed her daughter’s bedroom door open and found them indulging in oral sex. There followed an angry argument during which the defendant said she cared for her daughter and loved her.
“Nevertheless, she took her daughter back to the academy knowing that she would continue to be coached by Lyte. It was ten months later that she finally lodged a complaint with the police after a disappointing tournament.”
On hearing the news the girl climbed on to the roof of their Merseyside home and threatened suicide. She has now returned to live at home full-time after a period of recovery and told the court that she was now doing fine. She was once again playing tennis but this time “for fun”.
Her dream of becoming a professional player is a slender one but she said that she planned to meet LTA officials after her 16th birthday.
Before Lyte stepped down from the dock, Judge Gilmour told her that she would be put on the sex offenders register. Lyte’s father, Colin, 63, said: “I know my daughter. I know Claire is innocent. This has ruined her life. She is brilliant and had a glittering career in front of her. All that has gone now.” Later Mr Lyte and his wife, Gillian, comforted their sobbing daughter as she left the court. She is due to return to Liverpool Crown Court on November 2 for sentencing.
"
"Tennis coach Claire Lyte told she faces prison for lesbian sex with pupil aged 13
Russell Jenkins
She claimed that she was the innocent victim of the ambitious and pushy world of tennis, that she was a coach who had done nothing but nurture and bring out the best in her charges. But a jury saw through the smokescreen put up by the woman who committed the ultimate betrayal, conducting an illict, year-long sexual affair with her young pupil.
Claire Lyte’s life was in tatters yesterday after a judge told her that she would go to prison for molesting her 13-year-old female student.
Lyte, 29, wearing a tailored green dress, looked disbelieving in the dock, her head resting on a hand, as the jury at Liverpool Crown Court returned guilty verdicts at the end of a two-and-a-half-week trial.
The judge, Nigel Gilmour, QC, took the unusual step of praising the jury for rejecting the coach’s defence that the allegations were invented by an ambitious mother made bitter by her daughter’s faltering hopes of a professional tennis career.
Not an issue of sexual preference: an issue of trust
Affair was forced on me, says tennis starlet
Lyte, who coached Britain’s young elite at the Lawn Tennis Association training academy at Loughborough, ignored official warnings by her employers after she and the girl were seen sharing a toilet cubicle. She went on to develop a sexual relationship with the child and shared hotel bedrooms with her as she took part in tournaments on the junior circuit.
The girl, now 15, described being threatened into doing what her coach demanded because of the power that she wielded over her career. She sobbed as she told how her mother discovered them engaged in oral sex on her bed at home on Merseyside.
The case has forced the LTA into a radical restructuring of its youth academy scheme so that players at an impressionable age can now stay at home while they attend one of fourteen centres around the country.
After 11 hours and 44 minutes of deliberation the jury found Lyte guilty of four out of five charges of unlawful sexual activity between May 2005 and June last year. They failed to reach a verdict on one charge.
Judge Gilmour bailed her to reappear next month for sentencing, warning her: “These are offences where a custodial sentence is inevitable — the issue is the length of sentence.”
Earlier the judge told the jury that he had invited the defendant to reconsider her not-guilty plea before the start of the trial because of the overwhelming strength of evidence against her but had been met with a firm determination to go to trial.
He told them that if in the days to come they should look back on their verdict and wonder whether it was the right one, they should know that it was. Their verdicts, each reached by a majority of ten to two, coincided entirely with his own view.
The mother of the victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was not in court to hear the verdict.
Lyte seduced her pupil into a sexual relationship in May 2005 when her mother was away. She began by holding the child’s hand and kissing her, but it was a prelude to oral sex.
LTA staff watched the couple becoming close with alarm, instituting disciplinary proceedings when they were spotted sharing a staff lavatory cubicle on several occasions. She was later issued with a written warning.
The coach took to wearing her pupil’s clothes, including her underwear, and adopted a similar hairstyle and mannerisms. The pupil, infatuated by the attention, sent a series of intimate texts to her mobile phone.
On one Sunday early in October 2005, Lyte ferried the teenager home about 2pm from a tournament in the North of England where she had lost her match. The girl’s mother had gone to a party.
The girl later recalled for police how she had gone for a shower and returned to her bedroom to find her coach waiting for her. She said that the coach undressed first her and then herself. They kissed and lay on the bed where they had oral sex.
Peter Davies, for the prosecution, told the jury: “The mother left the party early because she was concerned she was not dressed correctly. She recalls going up the stairs, noticing two pairs of tennis shoes. She pushed her daughter’s bedroom door open and found them indulging in oral sex. There followed an angry argument during which the defendant said she cared for her daughter and loved her.
“Nevertheless, she took her daughter back to the academy knowing that she would continue to be coached by Lyte. It was ten months later that she finally lodged a complaint with the police after a disappointing tournament.”
On hearing the news the girl climbed on to the roof of their Merseyside home and threatened suicide. She has now returned to live at home full-time after a period of recovery and told the court that she was now doing fine. She was once again playing tennis but this time “for fun”.
Her dream of becoming a professional player is a slender one but she said that she planned to meet LTA officials after her 16th birthday.
Before Lyte stepped down from the dock, Judge Gilmour told her that she would be put on the sex offenders register. Lyte’s father, Colin, 63, said: “I know my daughter. I know Claire is innocent. This has ruined her life. She is brilliant and had a glittering career in front of her. All that has gone now.” Later Mr Lyte and his wife, Gillian, comforted their sobbing daughter as she left the court. She is due to return to Liverpool Crown Court on November 2 for sentencing.
"
