The devastated parents of a teenager killed with two other people in a horrific car crash today told how their son put a smile on the face of everyone he met.
They said they had been overwhelmed by the number of friends laying flowers in memory of 19-year-old Joseph Nixey. who died on Easter Sunday.
Joseph was killed when the BMW convertible he was travelling in collided with a Vauxhall Corsa on the A272, just west of Scaynes Hill, near Haywards Heath.
BMW driver Andrew Coupland, 33, and Corsa driver Malcom Cleroux, 60, died instantly in the crash.
Joseph's mother, Lorraine Jaquest, 44, a resource technician, of Orchard Close, Haywards Heath, said: "The whole family is distraught. He was just Joe - I can't explain it. He brought a smile to everybody's face."
Joseph, of Woodcutters, Scaynes Hill, had a 21-year-old brother Adam, two step-brothers, Matthew, 33, and Tristan, 26, and an 11-year-old half-sister, Milly.
He was unemployed but had recently enrolled for a manual apprenticeship at Crawley College.
Mrs Jaquest said: "People knew Joe as a very confident person who was one of the lads but there was a very different side to him that was very private. He had been a lost soul until recently and we had only just got him back.
"He had started to get his life back on track, he had turned himself around. He was becoming more interested in things again and was into decorating his flat, cooking and seeing the family. He even had a kitten."
Mrs Jaquest, who is divorced from Joseph's father and remarried, said she and her husband were on holiday in France when the accident happened.
She said: "We came back early as soon as we found out. We are distraught. I saw him only the Friday and Saturday before this happened.
"He was very popular and so many people have been coming to see me and to lay flowers by the spot where it happened to say goodbye to him. It is nice to know how well thought of he was. Everybody has a good word to say about him and everybody has a fond memory of him."
Joseph's father, Nigel Nixey, 52, a caretaker, of Cuckmere Path, Manor Park, Uckfield, said: "The first we knew was when Joe's girlfriend Alice called to ask if we had seen him because she had seen him earlier and then couldn't get hold of him. We didn't know what had happened until the following afternoon.
"We would go fishing together now and then because he really enjoyed it although he hadn't been for a while. He was just turning his life around. He would live his life how he wanted to and would only do what he wanted to do.
"He was a real entertainer, and would always have everyone's attention in the school playground when he was younger. He could charm anybody. When people think of Joe they will smile. Nobody would say a bad word about him. Alice is absolutely devastated - we all are."
Friends and family of church organist Malcom Cleroux, of Browns Lane, Uckfield, were distraught at his death.
His widow Jenny said: "He was the sort of person who did everything for charity."
Mr Cleroux, who played at Isfield Church, was proficient in a number of instruments. He gave lessons and organised music events.
Relatives of Andrew Coupland, of Great Rough, Newick, were too upset to talk about his death.
Emergency services arrived within minutes of the crash which happened at 8.05pm on Sunday. The road was closed for four and a half hours while they freed the injured.
Two rear passengers in the BMW suffered serious injuries and were taken to the Princess Royal in Haywards Heath. One is an 18-year-old man with a broken leg and the other a 21-year-old man with multiple fractures.
