“A BEAUTIFUL angel who will shine brightly amongst the stars.”

Those are the lasting memories that grieving friends hold of 16-year-old Margaret Pierides.

The youngster, who attended Hedingham School, had recently got “her life back on track” after leaving home following family disputes – only returning in recent months.

Best friend Kika Willings said: “She was making it all better for herself by starting at college. She was getting her life back on track.”

Miss Willings, who went to school with the troubled teen, later said: “When she went back home she was so happy. She was proper sorting her life out. She seemed to have patched things up.”

“We were best friends. She was so much fun to be around. She was crazy.”

Miss Willings’ mother, Celestine Adams, 45, described Margaret as a “wild card’’.

In a tribute addressed to Margaret’s mother, Bernadette, Mrs Adams wrote: “Bernadette, please take comfort from the fact that Margaret, the last couple of times we saw her, had a glow, a confidence and was looking gorgeous.

“She loved you and her brothers and sisters. Margaret was a lovely girl, a wild card – a little troubled but a lovely girl.”

Known to her friends as Maggie, she was known throughout the village as the girl with the “brightest and biggest smile” who always aimed to make others laugh.

School friends paid touching tributes, remembering her as “the life and soul of any party” and the comedian of the classroom. Close friend, Amy-Louise Cleaver said: “Every time I look up at the sky at night I will see a unique star and know you are still there.”

Amy Laurence, 19, described the tragic youngster as a “bubbly, strange” person.

She added: “I used to see her around and she used to come to my house a lot because she was friends with my little brother.

“She was a bit strange and always bubbly and laughing. She was just a bit crazy, she was one of those bubbly strange people but in a good way. She was just a nice girl.”

Another friend who did not want to be named said: “I have known Margaret for a while, I just knew her from around the village.

“She was popular and very friendly. I am just shocked, it is mad. I would not expect anything like this to happen to her.”