Tributes have been paid to an engineering apprentice and his girlfriend after they both died in a horrific motorbike crash.

Brad Cooper, 18, and Abbey Parker, 17, were killed after they were in collision with a tractor in Lower Burnham Road, North Fambridge, on Sunday.

The inseparable couple, who had been together for three and a half years, were pronounced dead at the scene after suffering multiple injuries.

Friends said Abbey and Brad, whose mum Donna works for the Maldon-based charity SWANS, were heading to Burnham to meet other bikers before joining the Essex Air Ambulance Motorcycle Run to Harwich when tragedy struck.

Their families were too upset to speak, but Facebook and Twitter have been inundated with tributes from friends.

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