Sir James Dyson's former PA has hit back at claims that she stole family secrets including his wife's medical records.
The inventor and his wife Lady Deirdre are suing Lynette Flanders for allegedly plundering emails, family records and photos of their grandchildren at their £20million mansion.
But Mrs Flanders, 50, branded the claims 'vague and embarrassing', insisting she only took a copy of Lady Deirdre's computerised records to help 'tidy' the electronic files.
Lynette Flanders has been accused of 'spying' by her former boss, businessman James Dyson
James Dyson and his wife Deirdre are suing his former PA Lynette Flanders for £50,000
She also said she had only taken photos of framed family snaps to remember their position on a windowsill so she could return them to the right place after tidying.
The Dysons, who are worth £9.5billion, have lodged High Court papers demanding £50,000 compensation from Mrs Flanders.
The married mother-of-three joined their staff as a cleaner in 2007 and rose to become the £35,000-a-year house manager of Dodington Park, where the couple live, with a staff of 100.
Lawyers for the 72-year-old vacuum cleaner tycoon said this gave her 'extensive access to private and confidential information' before she was made redundant last August.
In May last year, she allegedly created a folder called 'Deirdre' on her work laptop containing 'private, confidential and sensitive medical records' of Lady Deirdre, then later copied it to a portable data storage USB stick.
She also copied 5,000 emails to her personal email account and sent herself five photos taken on her phone inside the Dysons' home, it was claimed.
Mrs Flanders, 50, denies the allegations, saying they are 'vague and embarrassing', insisting she only took a copy of Lady Deirdre's computerised records to help 'tidy'
