“SHE was like a big sister to everyone, not just me” – Sarah Foster was just 14 when big sister Hannah was killed. Six years later she is remarkably brave as she talks of happier times.

Among them are the Easter egg hunts on Southampton Common, the time she paid 50p of her pocket money for her sister’s last roast potato and the Saturday mornings when Hannah would clamber into her sister’s bed and they would watch TV.

“There were moments, like when she would jump in my bed, when you knew Hannah needing caring for too. She would just get in behind me and I’d push her out and she’d get back in again.

“All my friends liked her. When we got ready to go out Hannah would lend things like her clothes and make-up, not just to me but to us all. She was like a big sister to everyone, not just me.”

Recalling how on the night Hannah died she said “I can’t wait for you to grow up so we can go out together, you’ll be such fun,” Sarah added: “I miss everything about her.”

Hannah had gained 11 A-star GCSEs and in her first year at Barton Peveril College, Eastleigh, gained five AS qualifications: four A grades in geology, chemistry, biology and history, and one B grade in fine art.

At the time of her death, she had gone on to study A-levels in the four subjects she had got an A in.

Sarah’s strength Sarah said: “She was very intelligent but not in a geeky way – she was lucky as it came so naturally.”

Sarah’s extraordinary strength in the past six years has enabled her parents to get through the lowest points.

Trevor said: “Sarah has been quite extraordinary throughout. I would have expected her to have problems but she has been a real strength. She gave us a reason still to function as parents.”

Despite the temptation to overprotect Sarah and what must be an unstoppable fear every time she leaves the house, Hilary and Trevor have managed to resist.

“Wrapping her up in cotton wool is not the answer. We didn’t ever want to make her scared of her own shadow.”