A teenager who died after a car crash in a quiet Essex village, "was a girl everyone would like as their daughter".

Camilla Hamilton, 15, of Littley Green, a hamlet between Dunmow and Chelmsford, was a passenger in a Mercedes ML 4x4 being driven by a 15-year-old girl when it crashed into trees on the Twinstead Road, Pebmarsh, on Saturday night.

Camilla Hamilton

Tributes were today paid to Camilla, a popular pupil at Felsted School.

Her parents David and Janice Hamilton described their daughter as respected, kind, thoughtful, tidy and well-organised.

"She has a very close and loving family who have always supported her in everything she has done.

"In addition, she was also a tremendously popular girl with a great enthusiasm for life, who took advantage of all the opportunities she was offered. She leaves behind a large number of friends," they said in a statement.

Felsted School's headmaster Stephen Roberts described her as talented and the girl everyone would like as their daughter.

"She was an academic scholar and one of the top girls in her year group - a really lovely girl," he said.

Camilla played for the school's hockey first team, the Essex under-15 hockey team and had just been selected for the East of England squad.

Her brother, Joe, 18, has just left Felsted School after taking his A-levels.

Mr Roberts said a memorial had been set up for Camilla in a side area of the school's chapel.

The driver escaped with cuts to her legs and is on police bail to reappear at Braintree police station on July 23.

Published Tuesday, July 1, 2003

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