A mother who lost her two-year-old son in the A23 crash told how her life would never be the same.

Little Marcus Mohabir was one of eight killed in the tragedy that also claimed the lives of his mother Tracey's best friends.

Her husband Steve remains in intensive care, although his condition has stabilised.

Tracey, 38, described how Steve tried to comfort their son as he lay dying.

When he lost his fight for life, she made the heart-rending decision to donate his organs, giving other children the chance of life.

Tracey said: "Steve was in the back and was trapped under the front seat but he could touch Marcus."

Paramedics revived Marcus but he died the next day.

Tracey's friends, Toby and Kate Beasley, both 30, died as a result of the crash which happened Sunday last week as they returned in their Land Rover Freelander from a day at the seaside.

Five people in a BMW which crossed the central reservation of the A23 just north of Pyecombe were also killed.

Tracey, a charity worker for Care International, had gone to a wedding in Kent and missed the day trip to the beach.

She said she had put her son to bed on Saturday night and spoke to him for the last time during a telephone conversation on Sunday morning.

He had told her he loved her and excitedly babbled: "Seaside mummy, seaside mummy."

She said: "I have moments when I cannot stop crying and at other times it feels as if the whole incident has happened to somebody else.

"I feel so exhausted from crying so much.

"One minute I'm grieving for Marcus and then I remember that my best friend and her husband are gone as well."

Tracey said her husband had said he and Marcus had enjoyed an idyllic day by the sea, enjoying fairground rides.

She said: "Steve told me they had to prise Marcus off the carrousel because he was enjoying it so much.

"Steve took a whole film of pictures of him that day so at least we will have those."

She draws some comfort from the fact that the accident was over in seconds and Marcus was with his father when he died.

She said she feared breaking the news of Marcus's death to her husband but as soon as she walked into his hospital ward in Haywards Heath, he told her: "I know. I knew in the car."

Tracey described her friends Toby, a postman, and Kate, a PA with Cable and Wireless, as "the perfect couple".

She said: "I was glad in a way they died together because I can't imagine one living without the other."

The two couples lived near each other in Godalming and were so close they all moved in together when Toby and Kate returned from living in Tenerife.

Tracey said: "Kate would come over for what she called a Marcus fix. My last memory of them was of Kate lying on the sofa cuddling Marcus as he drank milk before bed."

Marcus also enjoyed a good relationship with Toby, whom he would call Toby Tickle.

Tracey said: "Toby was such a big kid. I think he and Marcus must have been on the same wavelength."

Kate died on Monday without ever regaining consciousness. Her husband died instantly.

Tracey said helping Steve to recover had helped her cope with the tragedy.

She added: "Steve needs to concentrate on getting better and at the moment we are putting all our energy into that."