THE arrogant and jealous boyfriend of teenage model and actress Amy Leigh Barnes has been jailed for life for murdering her in a frenzied knife attack.

Amateur footballer Ricardo Morrison, 22, was described as "dangerous beyond words" as he was told that he must serve a minimum of 24 years before he is released.

Morrison, who had once been on the brink of a career with Birmingham City, was convicted of killing the 19-year-old by a jury at Manchester Crown Court following a two week trial.

Killer attacked previous girlfriend

'Sparkling' Amy's dreams of stardom

Texts and calls snared killer

Sentencing Morrison, Mr Justice MacDuff told him: “You are an evil man with nothing to commend you.

“You have a history of abusing and assaulting women. You are controlling and you do not like to be crossed. You do not take no for an answer.

“You had controlled and abused Amy Leigh Barnes over many months. Yours was a sustained campaign of prolonged physical, emotional and psychological abuse.”

The judge added: “In this case, you have been called a bully. You are the worst type of bully - a bully who will hit and injure anyone who gets in his way. Particularly women. And particularly women with whom you are in a relationship. I find nothing to commend you at all.”

Wept

Amy told a 999 call operator she had been stabbed by her boyfriend in a conversation which was played to the jury in court. Two women jurors wept while it was played and Morrison was unable to listen to the tape, and was allowed to leave the dock while it was played.

The judge continued: “Those of us who listened to her last anguished shouts in that 999 emergency call recording will never be able to forget it. You were unable to listen to it yourself.

“Nor can those of us who saw pictures of her injured body ever forget the wickedness of your attack.

“You slashed open her pretty face. What went through her mind when she saw you coming in through that back door with that knife is unimaginable.”

In setting the minimum tariff he said: “You will have to satisfy the parole board that you would be safe to take your place in normal society. In your case, knowing what I know about you, that will not be an easy task.

“I make the comment now - for consideration in 24 years' time - you are dangerous beyond words. There needs to be a sea change before you can be considered for release.”

Morrison returned to court to be sentenced wearing just a blue string vest and two sets of rosary beads.

He sat with his head in his hands as two statements were read out from his victim's mother and father detailing the effects of their daughter's murder on them.

Amy's father, Andrew Barnes, wept as his statement was read. Mr Barnes found Amy lying injured and covered in blood after she was attacked by Morrison.

Worshipped

He said: “Amy is my only child and from day one since her birth the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I have worshipped my Amy.”

He said the effect of his daughter's death could be summed up in three words: “Ruined my life.”

The statement continued: “I will never be the same person again. Try if you can imagine what I see every night when I close my eyes.

“The image is branded on my eyelids and will never go.”

Mr Barnes said his life was now full of guilt, penitence and anger because he had arrived too late to save his daughter.

Killer attacked previous girlfriend

'Sparkling' Amy's dreams of stardom

He said he would never hear the word “Dad” again, never have another Father's Day, never walk his daughter down the aisle and never be a grandfather.

“Almost daily I fight the urge to end everything,” he added.

Mr Barnes said his health had deteriorated, he was wracked with guilt and felt worthless. “My loss is unimaginable. This has totally ruined my life.”

The court then heard the statement from Karyn Killiner, Amy's mother.

She said: “My daughter was the centre of our world, I absolutely adored her and we have always been as close as a mother and a daughter can be.

“I want to claw my way to her. My loneliness is indescribable. The only person I want to be with is my child.”

Mrs Killiner described seeing her daughter on her death bed in hospital: “My heart was breaking as I heard my child scream. I am haunted forever.”

She said she now suffers flashbacks and sleeps with Amy's teddy. Every morning she wakes up to the shock as she realises the awful truth, her daughter is dead.

Destroyed

Mrs Killiner added all she has left is to kiss photos of her daughter and write to her constantly. She is an “empty shell”, who is “struggling to survive, gripping on to the edge of life”.

Speaking outside court, Mrs Killiner added: “Ricardo Morrison stole our daughter and destroyed our lives.

“Amy was a beautiful person inside and out. She had her whole life ahead of her. She was trying to get away from Morrison when he killed her.

“For the past two weeks we have had to see him every day. He has been cocky and arrogant despite it being clear from the start he was responsible for Amy's death."

“The sentence of 24 years is a sentence that needed to be passed to keep that dangerous man off the streets.
“She (Amy) trusted this man and that trust was severely broken.”

Amy, who had appeared in Hollyoaks, was slashed across her face and stabbed nine times by Morrison in the horrific attack at her grandmother's house in Farnworth, near Bolton, where they were living last November.

He denied murdering her, but the jury of five women and seven men took six hours to reach their verdict.

In front of a packed public gallery, Morrison collapsed in his chair in the dock and put his hands over his face.

The most damning piece of evidence had been a chilling tape of the 999 call Amy made as she lay dying, which was played in court during the trial.

Killer attacked previous girlfriend

'Sparkling' Amy's dreams of stardom

Texts and calls snared killer

She blamed her boyfriend for the attack and could be heard to say: "He stabbed me to death. I'm dying. Please help me."

Amy, whose large circle friends included a number of footballers, had begun dating Morrison after they met on the Facebook social networking site in February last year.

Dozens of text messages sent by Amy showed how, behind closed doors, his behaviour had become increasingly abusive and controlling.

She told a friend in one message he had put knives to her throat, put pillows of her face, locked her in rooms and had threatened to kill her. But she told others she loved him and was unable to leave him.

She sought help from a domestic violence project a week before the death.

She was planning to go on a night out to celebrate a friend's birthday on November 8 - the day he killed her.

She claimed to friends that Morrison punched her in the face, slammed a door on her arm and sprayed aerosol in her face in a violent attack that morning.

She sent him a text message calling him a 'woman beater' and then asked Vodafone to cut off his mobile phone service.

Then also rang her mum saying Morrison had locked her in the house.

She asked her: "Will you come and get me now?"

Angry

The prosecution claimed angry Morrison, who had gone to a bank in Bolton, did a U-turn when he realised his phone had been cut off and got a bus back to the house to kill her.

He picked up a 14cm kitchen knife and savagely attacked her as Amy's mum and dad, Andrew Barnes, were racing to the house to free her.

Mr Barnes found her lying in a pool of blood.

Amy died later at hospital as doctors battled to save her.

Police later discovered the knife on nearby wasteland.

A man matching Morrison's description was seen washing his hands in a nearby puddle. Morrison fled to Birmingham.

His mother, Melda Wilks, 50, a policewoman for almost 30 years, was cleared by the jury of assisting an offender.

She allowed him to wash his bloodstained clothes after he fled Bolton to the family home in Rubery, West Midlands, hours after the attack on November 8 last year.

She claimed she believed her son when he told her he had not harmed Miss Barnes.

“I was not thinking as a police officer but as a mother,” she said.

Morrison was convicted following an 11-day trial at Manchester Crown Court.

His mother was cleared 30 minutes later

Killer attacked previous girlfriend

'Sparkling' Amy's dreams of stardom

Texts and calls snared killer