A YOUNG nightclub worker has been found dead in her Edinburgh flat after her boyfriend, a convicted murderer, raised the alarm in a phone call from the prison where he is being held.

Police officers went to the home of 22-year-old Amanda Barnett after a call from 39-year-old John Balsillie, who was worried after failing to reach her by phone throughout Friday.

When they arrived at her flat in Murdoch Terrace, Fountainbridge, they found the young woman had been murdered.

Last night Lothian and Borders Police were refusing to reveal how she died, as they tried to piece together her final movements.

They would not say if Amanda, described as petite, with reddish brown short cropped hair and a stud through her nose, had been sexually assaulted.

They are trying to trace friends and relatives of the dead woman who is thought to come from the South of England, around the London area.

An 18-year-old neighbour, Vicki Harkness, who lives below the victim's flat, said a friend had seen her arguing with a man the night before she was found dead.

Friends claim Balsillie usually spoke to Ms Barnett, known as Mandy, twice a day from Saughton Prison.

He was jailed for life in 1977 for the murder of an 82-year-old widow, and after serving nearly 17 years was released on licence in 1993.

However, earlier this month he was convicted of trying to break into a flat in Warrender Park Terrace, Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard how he tried to break into the flat to raise cash after he used his Giro to pay for a St Valentine's Day treat for his girlfriend.

He was sentenced to 220 hours of community service for this offence, but his licence was revoked and he was returned to prison to continue his life sentence.

It is understood the dead woman moved north about four years ago to start a new life after a row with her parents over the upbringing of her daughter, now said to be six.

She recently found work as a cloakroom assistant at The Subway, an Edinburgh rave club.

A friend, Donna Grieve, 35, said that Ms Barnett, understood to have three elder brothers, was due to move to a new flat. ``She was a genuinely nice lassie. She spoke to John every day and visited him all the time and was always sending him cards.''

Lothian and Borders Police said the investigation into what had been a brutal attack on the woman was at an early stage and house-to-house inquiries were under way.

``We would like to hear from anyone who was in the vicinity of Murdoch Terrace during the afternoon and evening on Friday.''