A TIGHT-KNIT community has paid tribute to a neighbour who died in a car crash.

Tearful residents told how a hush fell over part of Beaver Tower, Eastwood, the day they discovered Christian Fairclough had been killed on the A127.

An inquest, last week, revealed Mr Fairclough, 36, was two-and-a-half times over the legal drink drive limit.

He had also taken cocaine before his Mitsubsihi Evo veered off the London-bound carriage- way, near Laindon.

The crash also claimed the life of his back-seat passenger, Jamie Cummins, 20, of Snakes Lane, Eastwood. Fellow passenger Darren May managed to walk away from the wreckage.

Tower block resident Marie Edmounds, 33, said Mr Fairclough was part of a “little family” at the flats locals refer to as “B Block”.

His death had hit them hard.

She said: “When he died that block went silent, because he had so many friends here.

“It was so quiet it was horrible.

“His best friend, Emylin, was my next door neighbour and looking at him, he was a mess for about a week.

“For somebody who is so big and strong you don’t think they are going to go like that. He looked absolutely awful.”

Miss Edmounds described how they all knew their neighbour as a hard-working man who was always polite.

She said: “He worked hard and he played too hard, that’s what we used to say.

“Yes, he did take coke and it was a surprise to his family, but it would only be at weekends.

“He worked five days a week and he loved his car to pieces.

“He had a mortgage on his flat to pay.

“He was always nice to me.

“If I was in a friend’s flat he would always come in and say ‘are you OK? How are the children?’”