Boyfriend of actress jailed for life for her murder

Morrison, 22, who has previous convictions for terrorising an ex-girlfriend and faces further charges for a violent assault on five women in a nightclub, stabbed the Hollyoaks actress to death with a 6ins kitchen knife at the home they shared in Farnworth, near Bolton.

Described in court as a “phoney and a bully”, he had repeatedly attacked his 19-year-old girlfriend during their stormy nine-month relationship.

His mother, policewoman Melda Wilks, 50, was cleared of assisting an offender - but faces an internal disciplinary inquiry by her force, West Midlands Police.

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.”

Earlier, had Wilks collapsed to the floor after her son was found guilty. When the jury returned to court to clear her, Morrison did not return to the dock.

Wilks left the dock weeping and was helped from court by one of her legal team.

Earlier, after Morrison was found guilty and the jury had left the courtroom, he sat pulling his hair out with his hands.

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.”

He 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.

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.

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.

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 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.”