A woman trying to blackmail a retired international footballer by telling him she had recordings of them having phone sex said he should be in trouble with the police for the lies he had told about their relationship, a court heard yesterday.

Carolyn Pick, 36, told the ex-footballer during four 90-minute cassettes she sent to his workplace that he had deliberately lied about their illicit conversations to protect his marriage and his public image, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Pick, of Washington, Wearside, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of blackmail.

The tapes said: ''If I went to the papers with the recording I think lots of other women would come out of the woodwork about you sleeping with them and they would be able to prove it.

''I don't mind being in the newspapers because I don't mind being famous. All I want to do is tell the truth and get revenge."

The ex-footballer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has denied that he had phone sex with the woman, but he admitted a crude conversation had taken place when he was duped into phoning her.

Pick, a finalist in the 1986 Miss England North-East competition, claims the ex-footballer had visited her home, a claim he also denies.

During the tape recordings heard yesterday Pick sang well-known songs changing the lyrics and adding obscene words.

She made reference to herself singing a version of Cliff Richard's Devil Woman before reminding him she admired Dynasty character Alexis Colby and comparing the ex-footballer to JR, in Dallas.

During the prosecution opening, Robert Woodcock told the jury the tapes were the ''deluded rantings'' of an ''adolescent and immature'' woman.

The case continues.