An Essex teenager has been found dead at her home just days after her boyfriend was killed in a car crash in which she was the driver.

The body of 18-year-old Katie West was found by a family member at her home in The Rowans, Billericay. Police are not treating her death as suspicious.

A post mortem was carried out yesterday but officers say they will have to wait for the results of toxicology tests to find out the cause of death.

Katie had been driving a Ford Escort involved in a near head-on collision with another car on Runwell Road, Wickford, on Sunday night.

Her boyfriend Andrew Elliott, 21, of Church End Lane, Runwell, had been a back-seat passenger. He was airlifted to Basildon Hospital on Sunday night but was pronounced dead on arrival.

A post mortem revealed he had died from the rupturing of a major blood vessel.

Katie suffered a minor neck injury in the crash but was released from hospital on Monday.

Until this summer she was a pupil at the Billericay School in School Road, Billericay.

A sombre Susan Hammond, headteacher, said today: "Katie was an extremely popular girl and we are all devastated. She had many friends both at the school and in the local community.

"She was a valued member of the school orchestra and choir and had a high profile in the musical life of the school.

"She had taken part in many events including the school orchestra's appearances on Blue Peter."

Paying tribute to Katie's brightness, Mrs Hammond added: "She gained three A-levels in the summer and had just started a business studies degree course at Anglia Polytechnic University."

Two other passengers in the Ford Escort, James and Tim Lansdale, 24, and 21, of Runwell Chase, Wickford, were also taken to hospital with cuts and bruises. They were released after treatment.

The other car involved, a Ford Mondeo, was driven by Gavin Lloyd, 21, of Downleaze, South Woodham Ferrers. He was released from hospital after treatment for minor injuries.

Traffic officers investigating the crash have renewed appeals for the owner of a white car which stopped at the scene of the carnage, but left before police arrived, to come forward.

They hope the driver will be able to help them understand what caused the smash. They believe one of the vehicles was trying to turn right when the other car, travelling in the opposite direction, ploughed into the side of it.

Anyone with information is asked to call Laindon Traffic Police on 01268 541312.

n Bubbly and effervescent - Katie West

A SCHOOL orchestra rehearsal had to be abandoned when the grim news of Katie's death was broken to members.

John Stevenson, head of music, explained simply: "There was nothing we could play that would be meaningful."

Mr Stevenson got to know Katie when she came to the school aged 11. She soon joined the orchestra playing her beloved clarinet.

She was so attached to the friends she made there she turned up at a parents' evening at the school on Wednesday last week and sat listening.

Mr Stevenson said: "She had been a key member. The last time she performed with us was in June when we appeared on Blue Peter.

"When I broke the news to the orchestra they were as devastated as I am. On a personal note, I was her form tutor in the sixth form and had grown up with her through the six or seven years she was with us.

"She was so bubbly and effervescent and will be sadly missed. Katie - after the funeral we will be looking to find an appropriate way to remember her."

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