Ricardo Morrison jailed for life for murder of teen model Amy
Morrison was asked to leave the family home. Miss Barnes's grandmother took them in at her two-up, two-down terrace house in Farnworth, just outside Bolton.
On the morning of November 8 her grandmother left the house for work, leaving the young couple alone in the house. Morrison then attacked Miss Barnes, punching her, spraying an aerosol in her face and slamming a door on her arm. He left to go into Bolton, locking her in the house.
The row continued by text message. She called him a "wife beater" and told him the relationship was over. She cut off his mobile phone and he texted her back: "Evil bitch."
When he returned to the house, he picked up the knife from a block in the kitchen and launched the attack. Her face was slashed open from the corner of her mouth to her right ear and she was stabbed with "severe force" all over her body. Then he left her for dead.
In a harrowing recording of Miss Barnes's 999 call, her screams and sobs were heard by a hushed courtroom as she begged the operator for help, gasping: "He's stabbed me to death... my boyfriend, please help me. I can't breathe! I've been stabbed! I'm dying!"
Andrew Barnes, her father, who had been summoned to the house by her worried family, then arrives to find his daughter on the floor in a pool of blood.
With the phone line still open, he is heard to say: "Amy! Amy! Amy! What's happened, Amy? Are you all right? Amy, what have you done?"
Morrison fled to his mother's house in Birmingham, where she washed his bloodstained clothing - destroying forensic evidence.
During the trial Morrison, who had football trials for Birmingham City, claimed to be a successful young businessman and "woman pleaser", but in reality he was "profoundly two-faced", a "phoney and a bully", the court heard.
Miss Barnes enjoyed going to nightclubs in Manchester frequented by professional footballers - much to Morrison's annoyance. He once sent her a text saying he "hoped she got raped".
Miss Barnes told friends that Morrison, to whom she referred as "psycho", had been beating her up for months, held knives to her throat and threatened to kill her.
With the help of her mother, she had been to see a domestic violence project but was not yet ready to leave Morrison, the court heard.
A follow-up appointment was made but five days later she was dead.
Senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Andy Peach said: "This was a brutal murder. Morrison repeatedly stabbed the person he was supposed to love, causing the horrific injuries that ultimately led to her death.
"Amy was her parents' only child and her death has devastated the whole family. I don't think anyone can contemplate what it must be like for a father to find his daughter like this.
"We don't think it is the first time Morrison hurt Amy. I hope this encourages anyone who is a victim of domestic abuse to speak out.
"At GMP (Greater Manchester Police) we have specially-trained officers who can support victims from the initial report and throughout the whole process."
Speaking outside court, Mrs Killiner said: "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.
"He has previous convictions which demonstrate he is an evil man. Amy was our life and now our life will be devoted to ensuring Amy's memory lives on."
Detective Chief Superintendent Jane Antrobus said: "This man was not someone you could predict what he was going to do.
"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."
* A Facebook tribute group to Amy Leigh Barnes can be found here.
