News that the 20-year-old former au pair had sacked Ms Whitfield Sharp followed a news conference held by the Massachusetts police officer who arrested Woodward's solicitor for drunk driving last week.

BBC correspondent Philippa Thomas on the solicitor's dismissal

Sgt Randy Cipoletta said the solicitor had told him she had been driven to drink because she knew Woodward was guilty.

A jury convicted Woodward of second-degree murder last year, but Judge Hiller Zobel changed the verdict to manslaughter.

He sentenced her instead to the 279 days in prison she had served since her arrest in February 1997.

Both sides are now awaiting the outcome of an appeal on the case.

'She knows Woodward is guilty'

Sgt Randy Cipoletta claims the solicitor knows Louise is guilty

Sgt Cipoletta told reporters the lawyer was having a hard time handling what she believed to be the truth.

Mr Cipoletta arrested Ms Whitfield Sharp on charges of drunk driving on May 22.

Speaking at the press conference, Sgt Cipoletta said: "Elaine Sharp stated to me that she was an attorney for Louise Woodward, and when she took the case, she believed that she was innocent.

Sgt Randy Cipoletta comments at the news conference

"And she knows that she is guilty and is having a hard time handling it."

Ms Whitfield Sharp has denied making the comments and has accused the trooper of harassing her. State police are investigating a complaint filed by the attorney.

But in a statement released after the conference attorneys Harvey Silverglate, Andrew Good and Barry Scheck said Woodward had accepted their recommendation "to immediately dismiss attorney Sharp as one of her counsel, and a letter of dismissal has been sent."

It added: "We do not believe that Trooper Cipoletta is an extortionist and a liar, any more than we believe that Ms Woodward is a murderer and a liar.

"The evidence of Ms Woodward's innocence, fully known and understood by attorney Sharp as by the three of us, is as compelling now as it was before attorney Sharp's arrest."

The three lawyers praised Ms Whitfield Sharp for her contributions to some of the scientific evidence in the first-degree murder case, and for her generosity in hosting the Woodward family after her release from prison in November.

Elaine Whitfield Sharp: gave Louise a home

But they described her as displaying "an aberrant pattern of behavior." And they said they hope she will use a court-mandated program to address some of her problems.

Sgt Cipoletta has said he might take legal action if Ms Whitfield Sharp did not apologise to him for saying the statements attributed to her in the report were untrue and that he made sexual advances toward her.

Ms Whitfield Sharp, aged 44, has pleaded guilty to the charges and after paying a fine said she was "appalled" at the state trooper's claims.

Elaine Whitfield Sharp defending her friend earlier this year

She complained to the state police that Sgt Cipoletta propositioned her and taunted her for representing Woodward

"The statements attributed to me by the police are not true," she said in a statement.