The Church Of Scientology has denied sending anyone to follow Katie Holmes after she filed for divorce from Tom Cruise.

A lawyer for the church also dismissed reports that Cruise - a prominent Scientologist - wanted their six-year-old daughter Suri to join the Sea Organisation.

The Sea Organisation, or Sea Org, has been described by its detractors as a boot camp for the controversial religion.

Reports that Holmes was being followed first appeared on celebrity news website TMZ.com.

But lawyer Gary Soter insisted: "There is no truth whatsoever to the TMZ.com report (or any other report) that the Church Of Scientology has sent anyone to follow or surveil Katie Holmes.

"The allegation about a six-year-old joining the Sea Org is similarly untrue."

TMZ reported that Holmes, who announced on Friday that she was filing for divorce, feared her estranged husband wanted Suri to join the Sea Org in the near future.

But it cited the Scientology lawyer as saying nobody under the age of 16 can join the elite body.

Minors must have the "consent of both parents and/or all legal guardians" to become members.

TMZ also cited sources close to Holmes as saying she believes the Church Of Scientology views her as a threat to the organisation.

The sources said the church had sent a team to spy on her, with mysterious men and vehicles tailing her in recent weeks.

The lawyer was speaking after 33-year-old Holmes was spotted in New York without her wedding ring.

She left a shoot for a television series in Times Square, her hair pulled back conservatively in a sleek pony tail and wearing a navy outfit.

Throngs of television satellite trucks and paparazzi were camped outside the Manhattan building where she was staying.

Cruise, who has just turned 50, married Holmes in an Italian castle in November 2006.

He had previously declared his love for the former Dawson's Creek star live on Oprah - famously jumping up and down on a sofa in the studio.

It was Holmes' first marriage and Cruise's third after Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman. They all filed for divorce when they were 33.

Holmes' announcement that she was filing for divorce reportedly took Cruise by surprise.

A spokeswoman said he had been "deeply saddened" by the move to end their five-year marriage.

Cruise is among the many celebrity members of the Church Of Scientology, including John Travolta, Juliette Lewis and Nancy Cartwright - who voices Bart Simpson.