A British woman has won the title Miss Net World in a beauty contest hosted by Libya.

The nation's first international beauty pageant did not feature a parade of contestants dressed in swimsuits and evening dresses - instead they wore t-shirts adorned with pictures of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Internet users from all over the world chose the UK's Lucy Layton as the title winner on Saturday.

Ms Layton, who comes from Digswell in Hertfordshire, and 22 other women from around the world met Colonel Gaddafi and were given a week's tour of Libya.

Beauty contenders

The 20-year-old winner said she was happy to receive first place.

Of the 25 contestants, the contenders from Australia and Thailand did not make the trip to Libya.

The official website for the competition shows young women meeting the Libyan leader.

It also shows the United States' contestant Tecca Zendik crying as Gaddafi apparently tells her how the US bombed his home.

The Lockerbie bombing was in 1988

In 1986, warplanes bombed the city, destroying Colonel Gaddafi's house and killing his adopted daughter after two US soldiers and a Turkish woman were killed in the bombing of a Berlin disco.

Former president Ronald Reagan ordered the air strikes on two Libyan cities.

Libya has been isolated by much of the international community for many years for its alleged connection with the bombing of a PanAm plane over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

UN sanctions, imposed to force Libya to cooperate with investigators, were eased in 1999 when two Libyans were handed over for trial in connection with the bombing.

One of the suspects was convicted and the other acquitted but the sanctions have not been fully lifted pending a final outcome to the case.