IT IS a tragedy that has rocked our close community - two friends dead and a sister of one of them horrifically injured after a night out in Ipswich.

Jessica Gallagher

IT IS a tragedy that has rocked our close community - two friends dead and a sister of one of them horrifically injured after a night out in Ipswich.

Today, in a bid to help and support their heartbroken families, The Evening Star has launched the Foxhall Road memorial fund to raise money for them to buy something in their daughters' memories.

The Star has already made a substantial donation to the fund and our sympathies go out to all those involved.

Star Editor Nigel Pickover said: “This is a dreadful tragedy to have hit these two families and their deaths are being felt throughout the town.

“It is hoped that the fund will go some way to show both families that the people in the town are thinking of them through this desperate time.

“Our thoughts are with everyone who knew them.”

For Beccy and Emma Harold's devastated family the horror is two-fold - 26-year-old Emma is dead, while her 25-year-old sister Beccy is lying in Ipswich Hospital fighting for her life.

Their childhood friend Kate Wasyluk, 25 who was walking with them also died on the night that a silver Citroen Saxo collided with them just yards from their homes - in a split second changing the lives of their families for ever.

A 20-year-old man arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving remains under police guard today at Ipswich Hospital after being injured in the crash.

A 22-year-old woman also arrested in connection with the incident has now been bailed to return to Ipswich Police Station on March 18.

Tributes to the girls and messages of support for the families have come flooding in, both from people who knew them and people who did not.

Their grief and shock will be felt among so many people, not only by friends of the girls but by people across the town who are finding it difficult to come to terms with something so appalling.

One comment on The Evening Star website from reader Brian Primmett said: “I don't know about everyone else but it's not just the family mourning these girls.

“It's just terrible, it's heartbreaking. I for one miss all of them, even though I didn't know them - for the simple reason it could have been anyone.”

- To donate to the fund send cheques payable to the Foxhall Road Memorial Fund to The Evening Star news desk, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN.