Friends of a father and 11-year-old daughter killed in a plane crash spoke today of their grief.

Former neighbour Dawne Davis said she was devastated by the deaths of Peter Bevan and his daughter Lauren, 11.

A total of four people, including the pilot, died when their weekend pleasure flight turned to horror minutes after take off.

Witnesses spoke of the single-engine Piper Arrow breaking up in mid-air over remote countryside at Lambourn Down, Berkshire.

The Bevan family had recently moved from the small village of Faygate, near Crawley, to a detached home in Billingshurst.

Today, Mr Bevan's widow Sheila was caring for her four-year-old daughter Leanne. A relative said she was too upset to comment.

Mr Bevan was a freelance aircraft engineer. A friend of the family described Lauren, a pupil at The Weald School, Billingshurst, as a very intelligent, bright girl.

The Bevans lived at Carylls Cottages in Faygate Lane before moving three months ago.

Mrs Dawne Davis, who had known the family for five years, said: "I've just sent her a Christmas card. We are a small community and we all know each other. I'm devastated for his wife. He was absolutely devoted to his children.

"He and Lauren used to ride every year in the London to Brighton cycle ride. He was a very fit man."

Post-mortem examinations were being carried out today at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

It is believed the pilot was from Surrey and the other passenger was from Bristol.

Civil Aviation Authority investigators were trying to uncover the cause of the crash, which spread wreckage over a mile-wide area. Witnesses said a wing was ripped off