Monday 13 July 2009

Dying model plea 'he stabbed me'

Amy Leigh Barnes had been stabbed at least nine times
A young model dialled 999 as she lay dying, pleaded for help and said her boyfriend had "stabbed her to death", a court has heard.
Amy Leigh Barnes' father found her in a pool of blood at her grandmother's house in Bolton, Greater Manchester.
The 19-year-old's boyfriend, Ricardo Morrison, appearing at Manchester Crown Court, denies murder.
His mother, Pc Melda Wilks, of Rubery, West Midlands, also appeared in court to deny assisting her son.
The court heard that Ms Barnes, a part-time model and actress, had been killed with a kitchen knife in November last year.
Stuart Driver, prosecuting, recounted her desperate plea to the operator at the end of her 999 call.
'Penetrated liver'
"I'm dying. He's stabbed me to death. I'm dying. Please help me."
The operator asked who had stabbed her, and she said, 'My boyfriend', the court heard.
He said Ms Barnes had been slashed across the face and she had five wounds to her chest and four to her back, several of which had penetrated her liver.
At this point the defendant turned his back and ran towards the cells.
The hearing was temporarily adjourned.
Earlier the prosecutor told the court the couple had been together for around a year.
Her father turned up, opened the front door and found his daughter at the bottom of the stairs, a pool of blood beneath her - you can imagine his reaction
Stuart Driver, prosecuting
Mr Morrison had moved from his native Birmingham to live with Ms Barnes, first at her mother's house, then to share her grandmother's terraced home in Moss Street in Farnworth.
But there were serious problems in their relationship, the jury was told.
At 0100 BST on the day she was killed, Ms Barnes sent a text message from her mobile phone to Mr Morrison, saying, "You are out of my life for good", the court heard.
Later her grandmother left the house for work, leaving the young couple alone in the house.
Morrison, it is alleged, then attacked Ms Barnes, punching her, spraying an aerosol in her face and then hurting her arm in a door.
He then left to go into Bolton, locking her in the house.
While he was out "angry" text messages resumed between them, with Ms Barnes telling him that it was over.
'Evidence destroyed'
She rang her mother in tears, and it was agreed her father would come and pick her up.
Two minutes after that call ended she dialled 999 to say she had been "stabbed to death".
"Soon after she was attacked, her father turned up, opened the front door and found his daughter at the bottom of the stairs, a pool of blood beneath her.
"You can imagine his reaction, his panic," Mr Driver said.
Police and paramedics arrived and Ms Barnes was taken to the Royal Bolton Infirmary where she died three hours later.
Mr Morrison's 49-year-old mother, of Hollyhill Road, Rubery, is accused of assisting her son, by allowing evidence to be destroyed following the killing.
The trial continues.

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