Friend's shock at car boot victim death

A FORMER friend of body in the boot victim Nicola West has today told how her friend loved life and would help anyone.

Clare Harper worked with Ms West at Ipswich's Pizzaland restaurant and lived with her friend for about a month.

Today she spoke of her shock that the 34-year-old had died and said her thoughts were with Miss West's family.

Ms Harper, who now lives in Jersey, said: “She was eccentric and she lived life to the fullest.

“She seemed to feel sorry for the less fortunate kind of guys and took them under her wing.”

Ms Harper was friends with Ms West for about three years and they lived together for a month near to the Odeon cinema.

Ms Harper, 29, left Ipswich about seven years ago and lost contact with her friend.

However, she bumped into Ms West again last year while visiting Ipswich. She said she had seemed happy and told her the boyfriend she was with was “the one”.

Ms Harper said her friend, who grew up in the Stanway area of Colchester, was a hard worker and was always keen to learn.

She said their group of workmates had lost contact when Pizzaland closed and she believes Ms West got a job behind the scenes in the catering industry.

Ms West, of Leather Bottle Hill, Little Blakenham, was working at a warehouse for St Elizabeth Hospice when she died.

Her friend added: “She had many ideas of where she wanted to work but she said she wanted to help people.

“She was a very good friend to me.”

Ms West's body was found in a car boot at Ipswich police station last Saturday.

Robert McCarry, 35, of Vernon Street, Ipswich and Paul Waters, 28, of Sandpiper Road, Ipswich, have been charged with her murder and perverting the course of justice.

Do you want to pay tribute to Ms West? Write to: Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail: eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk