According to a police report released late on Wednesday, Elaine Whitfield-Sharp blurted out, while being arrested for drunk driving, that she now believed the Louise Woodward was guilty of killing 9-month-old Matthew Eappen in February 1997.

On Thursday, Ms Whitfield-Sharp issued a statement distancing herself from the remarks attributed to her.

The lawyer, who admitted in court on Tuesday that there was enough evidence to warrant a guilty finding against her on the drunk driving charge, said she was "appalled" at the claims.

"I did not make the statements attributed to me by the police," her statement said.

But the denial was closely followed by fresh claims in a British newspaper that Ms Whitfield-Sharp has lost faith in her client.

On Friday, The Mirror claimed to have obtained a tape of a conversation between the lawyer and a friend.

The paper reports that the lawyer expressed a desire to give up the defence case, that she described Woodward as "duplicitous".

Miss Whitfield-Sharp also accused Woodward's legal defence fund of financial impropriety, and complained of working on the case for six months without payment, the paper reports.

Fund denies impropriety

Hours after the paper published the allegations, the chairman of the trust fund - formed last December with almost £250,000 from donations - denied any impropriety.

The Reverend Ken Davey, vicar of Ince and Elton in Cheshire, said: "Everything is fully accounted for as far as the trustees are concerned."

Asked if Ms Whitfield-Sharp had received any payments from the trust fund, Mr Davey replied: "I have got a bill from her here."

Paul Barrow, solicitor to the fund, backed up Mr Davey and said Ms Whitfield-Sharp's alleged claims were "nonsense".

Louise Woodward, 20, has lived in Ms Whitfield-Sharp's home since her release from prison in November, and was previously thought to enjoy a close personal relationship with the lawyer.