A woman accused of blackmailing a retired international footballer was yesterday accused of lying to the judge and jury over pictures of her which appeared in the media.

Carolyn Pick, 36, told the jury at Newcastle Crown Court that she had not given journalists pictures of herself in a yellow bikini to help publicise her case against the ex-footballer.

But journalist Gavin Foster, a reporter at the North News and Pictures press agency, told the court that Pick had given him copies of photographs she sent to the footballer during the blackmail campaign.

Prosecutor Robert Woodcock called Pick a "liar" who revelled in the publicity which surrounded her case. Pick, from Washington, Tyne and Wear, denies two counts of blackmail.

Under cross-examination from Mr Woodcock, Pick said that the photographs which had appeared in the Press had been taken from her mother's house by journalists without her knowledge or consent. She denied she had given pictures to journalists herself.

Mr Foster, called to the witness box by the prosecution, said he had obtained the pictures after telephoning Pick and meeting her at her house, where she handed him six photographs. He said Pick drew his attention to a picture of herself in a yellow bikini.

Pick was recalled by defending barrister Richard Bloomfield and she claimed Mr Foster had been harassing her at home, ringing her buzzer for half-an-hour.

She said she decided to let him in, hoping he would then leave, and added Mr Foster was relentlessly trying to persuade her to give him photographs.

Pick is accused of blackmailing the ex-footballer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, by claiming she had a tape of them having telephone sex and would release it to the Press unless he was "very nice to her".

The jury is expected to be sent out to consider its verdicts today.