A five-year-old who saw his father killed in a horrific car crash has told how he said he loved him with his dying breath.

As terrified Joshua Pickett crawled free from the wreckage, his father, Tony, 38, whispered: "I don't want to die. I still love you, Joshua."

Brave Joshua, from Lancing, told his mother, Sue Ward, yesterday how his father had spoken to him.

He had been travelling in a red Peugeot 305 driven by his father's girlfriend, Lucy Hampshire, 31, who was also killed in the smash.

The couple were going from Brighton to the flat they shared in Rowlands Road, Worthing, on March 2 after picking up tickets to see Arsenal. Mr Pickett was a passionate Gunners fan.

As the car headed north along Ditchling Road, Brighton, it was in collision with a blue Ford Escort travelling in the opposite direction.

The Escort driver, Alun Davies from Watford in Hertfordshire, suffered a broken collarbone.

Joshua, who had been sitting in the back with Mr Pickett, clambered out of the car to be comforted by a couple who stopped at the scene.

He suffered a gash to his head and cuts and bruises and that night told his mother: "I think my Dad is dead because he wouldn't speak to me. I think he was asleep."

But he has since revealed his father did speak to him.

Ms Ward said: "He knows what has happened and that he can't see his dad any more. But they had such a bond and Joshua has been having different images of Tony. The other day he said he thought his dad was cuddling him because it felt warm around his back.

"At one point he got upset because he couldn't see his dad, so I got out lots of photos and he was quite sad. He said, 'Poor daddy'. But the accident doesn't prey on his mind. He has just gone back to school this week and all the kids and staff have made a fuss of him.

"I was worried he would be scared to get in a car but he hasn't given it a second thought. The car we got picked up in from the hospital was also a red Peugeot but Joshua was fine."

Ms Ward, who said she had been "in a bubble" since the tragedy, split up with Mr Pickett a year ago.

He continued to look after Joshua on Sundays and a couple of nights a week and also leaves four other children from a marriage.

Mr Pickett's mother, Margaret, of Downsway, Woodingdean, Brighton, believes her grandson may have found it easier to accept his father's death because he saw what happened.

She said: "Perhaps actually being there has helped Joshua to accept it. He has really helped us through what has happened. At Tony's funeral on Friday, Josh really made the day because he was having a party for his dad and he had everyone in stitches doing silly things."

Mr Pickett was cremated in an Arsenal strip and his family will bury his ashes at the club's Highbury home ground.

Mrs Pickett, who has five other children, learned of Tony's death from one of her sons, Paul, just after 11pm that night and later identified his body with her husband, Dick.

She said: "I keep thinking, 'I wonder how Tony is' or 'I wonder if Tony will be round for Mothering Sunday'. I have been calling everyone Tony by accident because he has been on my mind."

Floral tributes left at the scene sent images of the crash flooding into her mind when she and her husband stopped to look.

Tony and Ms Hampshire worked together at VW Spares in Angmering.