Model told of boyfriend 'threats'

Amy Leigh Barnes was stabbed to death

A model told a friend days before she was stabbed to death that her boyfriend held knives to her throat and threatened to kill her, a court heard.

Amy Leigh Barnes, 19, also told a footballer who she had an on-off relationship with that Ricardo Morrison had been beating her up for months.

Mr Morrison, 21, from Birmingham, denies murder.

Manchester Crown Court heard the model was found dead at the house they shared in Farnworth, Bolton, in November 2008.

Mr Morrison's mother, Pc Melda Wilks, denies assisting an offender.

Kenneth Brady, who plays for Northwich Victoria, told the court that he had had an on-off sexual relationship with Miss Barnes.

'Struggling to breathe'

The jury heard a text message Miss Barnes sent to Mr Brady just days before her death, detailing the alleged abuse at the hands of Morrison, who she referred to as "psycho".

"For the past seven months Ricardo's been hitting me, locking me in rooms with him so I can't go out, putting knives to my throat, telling me he's going to kill me, putting pillows over my face, covering my nose and mouth with his hands and just staring at me while I'm struggling to breathe, tells me if I go out with my friends I might get raped. You know how that feels?"

The court heard Miss Barnes and Mr Brady would go to the same bars and clubs in Manchester and sometimes she would stay at his house.

Johannah Cutts QC, defending Morrison, asked the witness: "She was moving in circles with successful black men, between the ages of 20 and 30. Not just socialising with them but regularly sleeping with them?"

"That's just hearsay," Mr Brady replied, "I don't know."

'Flirtatious' texts

Another footballer Nathan Eccleston, from Maghull, Merseyside, told the court Miss Barnes told him she was single, but her "ex" was a "psycho" who would not leave her alone.

They agreed to meet up on the day Miss Barnes was murdered, following "flirtatious" texts and further messages of a "graphic sexual nature", the court heard.

On the morning Miss Barnes was killed, she sent a text message to Mr Eccleston, accusing Morrison of punching her, spraying aerosol in her mouth and slamming her arm in a door.

Earlier the court heard Miss Barnes dialled 999 herself after the knife attack saying: "I'm dying. He's stabbed me to death...my boyfriend...please help me...".

The trial continues.