Sophie's shocking legs

It was the night Sophie Anderton made her comeback.

Looking stunning in a range of skimpy underwear, the troubled model appeared to have turned over a new leaf at last.

The 26- year- old has told friends and family she has given up drugs and her abusive, addict boyfriend Mark Bosnich.

And as she took to the catwalk on Tuesday evening, she certainly looked healthy and happy.

But a few hours later - after leaving the La Perla fashion show at Il Bottaccio restaurant in Belgravia on Tuesday - a very different Miss Anderton emerged.

Without make-up, her bare legs were seen to be covered in scabs and bruises.

Sources also claimed the former Gossard girl appeared ' bleary eyed' and ' vacant' although she very publicly refused the glasses of champagne on offer.

One guest said: 'She was going to the toilet a lot and she did not seem like she was all there.' Miss Anderton then moved on to another Belgravia event where she joined the likes of Sadie Frost and Koo Stark.

There, said one partygoer, 'she had a slightly crazed, scary look and she was clenching her jaw a lot'.

He also revealed that Miss Anderton's scab- covered legs started guests gossiping about whether she was as well as she claimed to be.

'They looked like they were cigarette burns or injection marks,' he said. 'People were commenting because she is normally so flawless looking.'

Yesterday, Miss Anderton's agent Sera Counsell insisted: 'The marks are from when she fell over.'

But the partygoer said this did not 'really ring true' adding: 'Whatever the reason, they certainly showed something is not right.'

Once one of Britain's brightest modelling hopes, Miss Anderton has in recent years become more famous for her drug addiction and her men problems - most dramatically last October when she accused 31-year-old Bosnich, the former Chelsea goalkeeper, of beating her up.

In recent weeks, she has been telling anyone who will listen that she is finally clean and completely over him.

'I spoke to her on Sunday and I think she's fine now,' her mother Sue Deacon said from her home in France yesterday.

'She has had a horrendous time but she hasn't seen Bosnich for a long time and she is off drugs.'

Miss Counsell also claimed Miss Anderton was now drugfree.

'She is going to Narcotics Anonymous and has been clean for three months,' she insisted.

'She's avoiding a party lifestyle and is much happier. She is definitely single and has just started renting her own flat.'

However, just two weeks ago, Miss Anderton was still making excuses for Bosnich's behaviour towards her and admitted she was still spending nights at his flat.

She added that the only reason she was not back living with him was that he was clearly still on drugs.

'He's not a bad man,' she said. 'People say I was an idiot for being with him. But I know the other side to Mark.

'I want to be there for him and would love us to work out. But at the moment he is still involved on the party scene.'

Friends say they remain concerned about the model.

One said: 'She calls me at all hours of the day and night and sometimes she is rambling so much I can't even understand what she is saying.

'I would love to think she is clean. But with Sophie it's impossible to know what to believe.

'Even her closest friends are frustrated and have had enough of her. I'm seriously concerned. I don't think she is over her problems and I'm worried about where all this is leading.'