PREMIER league football star Benni McCarthy has told of his shock at the murder of teenage Bolton beauty queen Amy Leigh Barnes.

The Blackburn Rovers striker, a close friend of Amy, 19, said he was `devastated' by her death and sent his condolences to her friends and family.

Amy, an aspiring model, was found with stab wounds following a disturbance at a house in Farnworth, Bolton. She died later in hospital.

South African international Benni, 31, said in a statement issued by the club: "Amy Leigh was a friend of mine and I am obviously devastated to hear of this tragedy.

"My condolences go out to her family and friends at this sad and difficult time."

Hundreds of internet posters - including other professional footballers - have left poignant messages on her Facebook website. They include brief tributes from Oldham Athletic left back Paul Black and West Bromwich Albion's former Manchester City striker Ishmael Miller.

Police were called to the terrace house on Moss Street at 11.40am on Saturday. Amy, described by her devastated family as a `beautiful princess' was found injured inside. She was rushed to the Royal Bolton Hospital with stab wounds, but later pronounced dead.

Police later arrested a 21-year-old man in the West Midlands on suspicion of her murder. A spokesman confirmed he was still being questioned last night.

Amy called herself Amyleigh for modelling photo-shoots and had posed for Cosmopolitan magazine and Nuts. The former pupil at the £4,500-a-year Lord's Independent School in Bolton was on the books of Manchester-based modelling agency Nemesis Castings and last year she reached the final of the Miss British Isles contest.

Amy was also in the top 50 finalists of the UK Model of the Year contest. She studied performing arts at Salford's Pendleton College and volunteered at the Phoenix Drama group.

Police forensic teams continued to search the house for evidence yesterday and a number of items in bags were removed to be sent away for analysis. The small cobbled street remained closed and a mobile police station was set up nearby.

It is understood that Amy had only recently moved to live there from the family home in Egerton, Bolton.

In a statement, her grieving mother Karyn and stepdad John Killiner paid tribute to 'the most beautiful princess'.

They said: "We, as a family, are absolutely distraught and destroyed more than words can say. Words cannot express the pain we are in. We loved our baby so much, she was our reason for living. She was the most beautiful princess. We will not rest until justice has been done for our gorgeous daughter. Amy was a very special person and much loved by all her family and friends, of which she had many."
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