A FORMER beauty queen who blackmailed an ex-international soccer star is believed to have committed suicide.

Carolyn Pick, 36, claimed she had phone sex with the star and had copies of the seedy tapes after he spurned her advances.

She was locked up in a secure mental hospital waiting sentence after being convicted of blackmail.

But yesterday morning she was found dead in her secure room at St Luke's Hospital, Middlesbrough. It is understood she took her own life.

A police spokesman confirmed they were undertaking an inquiry on behalf of the coroner in relation to a sudden death at the hospital.

Updated: 16.25 Friday, April 20