SHE was a beautiful model and aspiring actress with a glittering future ahead of her.

Amy Barnes had an infectious personality that people could not help but like and always had time to help others.

The 19-year-old’s career was starting to take off as she modelled for Cosmopolitan and Nuts magazine and she had made more than 20 appearances as an extra in teen soap Hollyoaks.

From her childhood, her parents recognised that their only child was talented and had a promising future. She loved to perform and would entertain her family on Sunday afternoons.

Her mother, Karyn Killiner, aged 41, said: “She was a little treasure. She was a wonderful daughter and she loved to be around family and friends. Amy was always dancing and doing shows. On a Sunday we would have dinner and then she would sing and dance for the family. We were proud of the beautiful person that she was, inside and out. She was vibrant and constantly making us laugh.”

Amy loved animals, especially horses, and when she was 11 she started volunteering at Holcombe Brook disabled riding school.

She also helped out at pensioners’ tea parties at Christmas and ran drama workshops at The Phoenix performing art centre in Bolton.

Her father, Andrew Barnes, aged 41, shared his happy memories of her: “She was dancing as soon as she was walking. We used to go to festivals and shows and she was always smiling. She had fun all the time. We were so proud of her, I would go to shows and think ‘that’s my little girl up there.’”

Amy’s step-mother, Dawn Halton-Barnes, aged 39, said: “I have known Amy since she was nine and she was always so full of energy, dancing and singing and she loved entertaining. She was beautiful as a person, she was not obnoxious or loud and she had a sparkle about her personality. Amy always saw the good in people.

“My favourite memory of her was when we went to Newquay and we would walk along the beach and play in the sand.”

Amy was born in Bolton and was brought up in Kearsley, where she attended St Stephen’s CE Primary School, until her parents split up when she was seven.

She continued her education at Walmsley CE Primary School in Egerton, and went to Turton High School, before moving to Lords Independent School.

At the age of 14, she started singing lessons with music teacher Eileen Nelson. She stopped the lessons a few months before her death to concentrate on her modelling career.

Mrs Nelson, of Crompton Way, said: “She was a lovely sweet girl. I was so shocked when I heard what happened and it broke the hearts of her family. She was at the start of her career and she was a dedicated worker.

“She would have had a glittering future. She had a pleasant and sweet voice and it was getting stronger. Nowadays when you go to auditions you need to be able to act, sing and dance.”

Amy completed a one-year BTEC Diploma in performing arts at Pendleton College in Salford in 2007.

Lucy Atkinson, who taught her for two terms, said: “She was a generous, warm and sunny person who always had a smile on her face. She was talented and enjoyed singing, acting and dancing — there is no telling what she could have gone on to do had she been given the chance.

“Amy enjoyed being in the limelight in a positive way, not in an attention grabbing way. She was an enthusiast for life.

“She was a popular member of the group, generous and supportive and did not have a malicious bone in her body.

“We have an all black dress code to be neutral but she would always bring her individual personality to it with a bit of bling or pink or a cropped version. She liked being glamorous but it was not vanity.

“Amy was a team player and would help others and was a pleasure to teach.”