A WORCESTER King's School pupil made headlines when she went to court to sue her father for her private school fees.

Nicole Lavelle, who lives at Peopleton, near Pershore, with her mother Linda, is seeking £700 a month from her estranged father, Callum Lavelle, who lives in Dunblane, Scotland.

Nicole is basing her claim, which is being heard at Stirling Sheriff Court, on the "right to aliment" which is contained in the Family Law (Scotland) Act of 1985.

If Nicole succeeds, she will be the first child to use this law to extract school fees from a parent.

Speaking from her home in Peopleton this morning, an exhausted Mrs Lavelle said she was "just glad it's all over".

"We just want to get on now," said the 42-year-old mother-of-two. "It's extremely stressful."

"Nicole and I had long conversations about whether we could go through with it but there's a lot riding on it - she's been in the private system a long time."

Nicole, whose sister Stephanie, aged 11, attends a different private school locally, had been boarding at the exclusive £1,550 a month Harrogate Ladies College and living with her father in Dunblane, since her parent's separation four years ago.

Last year, 16-year-old Nicole decided she wanted to live with her mother but her father, who had paid her fees at Harrogate, refused to pay the fees for The King's School. Nicole and her father now do not even speak.

"At the moment he's refusing to maintain her at all," said Mrs Lavelle of her ex-husband, who is vice-president for Europe of American computer company Highground Systems.

Mrs Lavelle said it was very difficult to know what would happen as the case was "the first of its kind".

"We have no idea how the sheriff will view it. It's such an unusual case. So much detail came out yesterday - that's why it ran over."

The case will be continued on Friday, November 24, when summations from both solicitors will be heard.