Gloucestershire sprinter Richard Davenport was judged to be Britain’s top junior athlete in 2005 when, as a teenager, he made his breakthrough at 400 metres.

But Davenport’s career has since been blighted by injury and loss of form, prompting him to take his former coach, David Farrow, to court, accused of going "over the top" in his control of the athlete.

A central complaint in the case is that Farrow forced his athlete to train when injured with a stress fracture in his back, causing longer term complications and causing him to miss out on the chance of competing at the Beijing Olympics.

Farrow, from Cheltenham, is the former coach of European junior champion Emily Pidgeon and Olympic runner Kate Reed.

He has had his UK Athletics coaching licence suspended since 2007 after he was found to have abused his position of trust with a senior athlete.

Davenport, now 24, has launched a unique case seeking compensation from his former coach in the hope that he might revive his track career ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.

This week Davenport’s mother, Susan, told the court that Farrow went "over the top" in monitoring her son’s progress.

"I think it is unreasonable to ring up every day and to ask what he was doing every hour of the day - why he was late coming back from school, who he has been seeing, and what he has eaten," she said in evidence.

Mrs Davenport even claimed that Farrow had used his influence to get her son to delay attending university, although he has since attended Loughborough.

Farrow's barrister, Timothy Meakin, told the court it was entirely reasonable for the coach to keep a close eye on an athlete's diet, acting as a "very diligent coach - concerned about Richard's welfare and development".

He asked Mrs Davenport: "You're trying to demonstrate that his personality was so oppressive that he overcame your good judgement, and the good judgement of your son?"

Key to the case is the claim that Farrow continued to have Davenport train even when a stress fracture was apparent, and that Farrow failed to seek appropriate medical assistance.

Davenport’s barrister, Jonathan Hand, claims it should have been obvious he had a back problem, but the coach either “"ignored or made light of these complaints".

Stress fractures were only diagnosed by a routine scan when Davenport went to Loughborough University.

He was treated with surgery over a two-year period, but too late for Davenport to recover and win a place in the British team for Beijing.

Farrow denies all liability, insisting he has no recollection of his charge complaining of serious back pain throughout 2004 and that he at all times acted in what he believed to be Davenport's best interests.

Davenport had star quality when a junior, reaching the 400m hurdles final at the 2004 World Junior Championships with a British junior record 50.20sec, better than the likes of David Hemery or Kris Akabusi ever managed when they were in their teens.

He was fast tracked into the senior British 4x400m relay squad, winning silver medals at the European Indoors and European under-23 championships.

Davenport is currently training alongside Martin Rooney, a relay silver medal-winner for Britain at last year’s World Championships in Berlin.

But he has not been able to hurdle since his comeback from injury.

"I ran a PB of 46.8 when I was 19 but I need to be below 46secs to compete at the top level now.

"Sometimes, when I get beaten by a 17 or 18-year-old I think to myself, 'I used to be you'."