AS a child, Carly was a caring, sensible and fun-loving girl.

But even at an early age, childhood friends say she had a very strong personality.

As a baby, Carly was diagnosed with a rare allergy to artificial milk.

Dorothy Martland was one of a 12-strong team of Bolton mothers who provided breast milk for her during the summer of 1985.

Mrs Martland said: "I feel terrible about Carly's death, it's awful.

"The group of mothers saved Carly's life and it is very sad that she should die like this."

Carly was diagnosed an insulin diabetic at the age of four and required a highly specialised diet and regular doses of insulin.

Pat Gleaves, who is the manager of Moss Lea nursery in Sharples, has looked after thousands of children during her career, but clearly recalls little Carly.

She cared for the youngster for two years from the age of two at the playgroup she used to run at Astley Bridge Cricket Club and at Moss Lea, which she opened in 1988.

Mrs Gleaves said: "Carly will always stick in my mind because she was such a loving child with a beautiful face.

"Even though I've seen so many children over the years, Carly sticks out like a beacon and what has happened has really upset and shocked us."

By the time she was eight years old, Carly was able to monitor her illness and administer her own medication.

But at 15, this nice young girl fell in with the wrong crowd and became addicted to heroin.

Despite pleas from her loving family, she played truant from school and repeatedly ran away from home, often for weeks on end.

Last year, aged just 16, she was picked up by police after she was seen selling her body for sex.

Just 12 months later, she was dead. Her life had ended before it had even begun.

Carly was strangled and her body was dumped in an alleyway in the heart of Bolton's notorious red light district.

Her family described her as being a "free spirit" who was a law unto herself.

They continually tried to get her to kick her drug habit, and even enlisted the help of social services, but to no avail.

Carly had tried to help herself by signing up to various drug programmes in an effort to clean up her act.

This, too, proved fruitless as she become further embroiled in a world of crime, drugs and vice.

She was picked up on at least four separate occasions by police for touting for business on the streets of Bolton.

Those who knew Carly when she was a young child are shocked at how her life turned out . . .