NEIGHBOURS have paid tribute to a fantastic mother who was killed in a hit-and-run accident while on holiday in Thailand.

lizzie.parry@eveningstar.co.uk>

NEIGHBOURS have paid tribute to a fantastic mother who was killed in a hit-and-run accident while on holiday in Thailand.

Claire Cox, 42, from Bramford Road, Ipswich, died during a holiday in the south-east Asian country, on the popular island of Koh Samui.

The charity worker, who leaves a son, Adam, has been remembered by her next-door neighbour Roger Prophet and his family as having a very distinctive and contagious laugh.

Mr Prophet said: “You could not have wished for a better neighbour, everybody got on well with her, you could not fail to laugh along with her.

“She was a kind of person who could not keep still, always active.

“I remember when she bought a bike so that she could bike to work and was very pleased with herself that she was keeping fit.”

He added: “From what I saw of her and Adam together she seemed a fantastic mother, a credit to single mums.

“Sometimes you could hear her shouting at Adam through the walls to hurry up out of the shower, which would often make me and my wife chuckle to ourselves.”

The Prophet family said they missed their “one of a kind” neighbour and still expected to bump into her outside their homes.

“We both keep our cars parked behind our houses and I still expect her to pull up and have a chat about work or life in general.

“It has been a pleasure for our family to have been her neighbour and to get to know Claire and her son Adam.

“She truly was one of a kind and our family miss her terribly, and I would like to offer Adam our deepest sympathy.”

After living so close to Claire for the last four years Mr Prophet explained how he would help her with odd bits of DIY around her house, as well as keeping a spare key in case she was ever locked out.

He said: “Over the years she lived there she transformed the house doing most of the work herself and often employing me and asking me for advice or if I could recommend other trades persons, which I often did for her.”

Claire worked as a finance administrator for Mencap Ipswich and was involved in the Genesis Project, which aims to improve the lives of disabled people in Suffolk.

n. Pay your tributes to Claire by writing to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich or email starletters@eveningstar.co.uk