Friends and family of a 30-year-old woman mown down by a hit-and-run driver today described her as the life and soul of any party.

Michelle Dever made friends wherever she went, always had a smile and would be the first on to the dance floor at any nightclub, her grieving family said.

Michelle, of Brighton Road, Lancing, died on Thursday night when she was hit by a blue Ford Fiesta as she crossed the road to her home after parking her car.

The driver sped away, leaving her on the pavement fighting for her life.

The car was found dumped less than a mile away at Beach Green, Lancing.

Michelle's brother Mark Dever, 32, said: "Michelle was just the most amazing person you could ever meet. She was a free spirit, generous, honest, happy - you couldn't wish for a better sister or a better person.

"It has left us all devastated. There aren't really any words to describe what we're going through at the moment."

Michelle moved to the Brighton area where her ex-boyfriend lived. They met while travelling in Greece.

She initially moved to Peacehaven from the family home in Sidcup six years ago, then to Telscombe Cliffs.

Mark said: "Brighton was her Greece. She loved the Honey Club, she loved the atmosphere and the people. It was her kind of place.

"She would always be the first on the dance floor."

Michelle settled in Lancing and became a dental nurse at Shoreham Dental Centre. She moved into a beach-front home in Brighton Road with landlady and friend Jackie Oldridge.

Jackie said: "She was the most honest and reliable girl you could meet.

"She was full of beans and she just bought a lot of life to the house. She brought a breath of fresh air through here."

Jackie and housemate Richard Sanderson were planning to buy a camper van and go travelling in the summer and were about to ask Michelle to go with them.

Richard said: "It is exactly the sort of thing she would have loved - going off travelling in the sun. She was a ray of sunshine herself."

Best friend Michelle Field, 34, from Sidcup, said: "When she walked into a room it just lit up.

"I met her about six years ago and right from the off we both said we would be friends for life. It's so difficult to talk about her in the past tense now. She had a lovely sense of humour. My lasting memory of her will be a boat party we went to in London for Hallowe'en.

"It was fancy dress and because she was dental nurse she got some fangs made and turned up with these big teeth and a mask and everyone just said wow, she looked absolutely stunning. She was a stunning person."

Michelle's family is struggling to cope with the loss. Her godfather flew from west Africa as soon as he heard the news. Her mother is devastated.

Mark said: "It's a parent's worst nightmare. I've got two youngsters myself who Michelle adored and they adored her. I've got another one on the way who she will now never meet."

Mark said no punishment could ever be enough for the person who killed his sister: "The person who did it was cowardly. To leave my sister on the side of the road dying. The driver's got no guts. He just ran away.

"Whatever sentence the person who did this gets, it won't be enough. It's not about whether he was speeding or drinking it's the fact he ran away afterwards that gets me. He left her to die."

Police are still seeking witnesses to the 10.40pm incident and Michelle's family has called for the stretch of Brighton Road where it happened, near the Kia garage, to be made safer, with more crossings and the speed limit lowered from 40 to 30 mph.

No date has yet been set for a funeral. Details will be available on lizze.browne@hotmail.co.uk.

A 22-year-old-man arrested in London in connection with the incident was still being questioned last night.