A HEARTBROKEN family has paid tribute to a young woman they described as ‘the best auntie in the world’.

Anna Curtis, 22, was killed when the car in which she was a passenger crashed into the back of a parked van on the C12, not far from her Bishopstone home, at about midnight on Monday.

Her dad, Tom, spoke of a popular young person who enjoyed going out with her many friends but always had time for her family, especially her nieces, Mirren, 11, and Chloe, nine, and nephews, Korben, seven, and three-year-old Bailey.

He said: “She was bright and breezy and full of life. She was always busy going out and enjoying herself, like anyone else her age, but she idolised the kids. She meant so much to us. She was my little baby.”

Anna’s death comes as a second blow to Mr Curtis and his older children, Lee, 35, and 34-year-old Debbie, as her mother, Jackie, died suddenly from a stroke three years ago.

Mr Curtis said: “Anna took over from her mum - she was always sorting us out and organising us, bossing us around. The house will be so empty without her.”

Anna lived in Bishopstone all her life, going to Coombe Bissett First and Wilton Middle schools then on to Westwood St Thomas, now Salisbury High.

On leaving school she went on to study beauty therapy at Wiltshire College, Salisbury, before taking a job at Argos in Salisbury. She then worked at Woolworths but returned to Argos when it closed down.

She and her family took part in the Midnight Walk to raise money for Salisbury Hospice in June and she was spurred on to enter this year’s Cancer Research UK Race for Life to raise more money for charity.

She had been with her teenage sweetheart, Carmen Daley, 23, since she was 16-years-old and he lived with her and her dad at their Netton Close home.

Following the accident he was too upset to talk but wrote in tribute: “I’m finding it hard to find the words in the world to say but whatever I do will never take the pain away.

“Just to let you know you were my only true love and always will be, you will never be forgotten and always on my mind.”

The 26-year-old Salisbury man driving the Ford Fiesta in which Anna was travelling was taken to Salisbury District Hospital to be treated for head injuries.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the crash and anyone with any information is asked to contact PC Chris Penny on 0845 4087000 extension 722845.