The family of a teenage footballer who died in the street described him as “too good for this earth”.

Connor Saunders, 19, was punched after an argument between two groups outside Tesco Express in Rottingdean on Saturday night.

Speaking at the family home in Downsway, Woodingdean yesterday, Connor’s mum Darran and father Shaun paid a heartbreaking tribute to their son.

The tearful couple, who spoke with items of their son’s clothes draped around them, said their “whole life has stopped” but added they were setting up a fund in Connor’s name to provide life-saving medical equipment to semi-professional football clubs in Sussex.

Mrs Saunders said: “We have always been blessed to have him in our lives but he was too good for this earth.

“We just don’t understand why this would happen to someone like him. There are some real bad people in this world but he was not one of them.

“The only thing he never had on this Earth was his angel wings."

Mr Saunders, who worked with Connor in the family plastering and timber firm, said: "I do not know how we are ever going to get through this.

“Our whole life has stopped.

“We can’t eat, we can’t sleep. Work is completely out of the question as I just can’t face opening the van and seeing his tools.

“I spent all day, every day with him. He was my son, my colleague, my friend, my hero.”

To read the full heartbreaking story see today's Argus.