Kate McCann was nicknamed 'Hot Lips Healy' during her carefree student days at Dundee University.

Kate Healy, as she was then, was 'renowned for alcoholic binges and dance till you drop nocturnal activities', according to her year book of 1992.

However friends say Kate, was one of the most popular students in the medical department and have spoke of their shock at the allegations made by the Portuguese police.

One former classmate, now a doctor, said: "Kate was great fun, always up for a laugh and a party. She was certainly more interested in going to the pub than she was in her studies. Although she seemed to pass her exams with ease."

Hot lips: Kate McCann in more carefree days

Her light-hearted attitude to her studies is illustrated, friends say, by the yearbook entry written by her colleagues at Dundee.

It reads: "Kate 'Scouser' Healy-chops 'ferried' over from Merseyside five years ago and rapidly became the most prominent member of the H.G. Girlies.

"Renowned for frequently indulging in alcoholic binges and 'dance till you drop' nocturnal activities, she immediately led the rest of her fellow colleagues astray.

"Hot Lips Healy maintained a consistent Friday night appearance in the Union throughout the whole of first year."