A COLLEGE friend of hit-and-run victim Alex Veeder has told how she had been laughing and joking just an hour before her life was tragically cut short in a traffic accident.

Photography student Alex, of Ringley Drive, Whitefield, was struck and killed by a car travelling the wrong way up a one-way street in Nottingham.

The Peugeot 306, driven by a 24-year-old Birmingham man, was said to have mounted the pavement and ploughed into Alex (21) and a friend, Robert Bradley (20), as they returned home from an end-of-term Christmas party.

Robert died instantly and Alex, a bubbly second year student at Nottingham Trent University, died later in the town's Queen's Medical Centre.

Fellow student Aron Myerthall (20), of Higher Crumpsall, said he left Alex in a happy mood at around 1am on Sunday (Dec 17), just an hour before the tragic accident.

He said: "It was the last day of term and I had met Alex during the day for a drink. We agreed to see each other later that evening in the Union where we shared a laugh and a joke.

"As we were from the same area we made arrangements to meet up once we were back home for the holidays. The last thing we said to each other was see you back in Manchester." Aron said they had become friends after learning they had both gone to King David Junior School. He added that he heard the terrible news at around 4am on Sunday when he received a distraught text message from another friend. "My friend sent me a message saying he had just seen a murder," Aron explained. "At around 10am the next morning my mother telephoned to say a Jewish girl from Manchester had been killed. It wasn't until I received messages of condolences on my mobile phone because I knew Alex that I checked on Teletext and realised it was her."

He went on: "Alex was very friendly and bubbly. Most people around college knew her because of her distinctive red hair and her smile. I will always remember her smile."

He added that his friends who witnessed the crash and were with Alex at the scene had just been introduced to her a few weeks before.

Aron said: "What they saw was terrible and they are finding it hard to come to terms with, as we all are." The tragedy has left her family devastated, including her twin sister Laura and older sister Leanne.

A police spokesman said a man had later given himself up at a police station and had been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. He had since been released on bail until February 10.