Romsey'S estate agency community was stunned this week by the tragic death of a highly-respected agent who had returned to run an office in the town where she had gone to school.

Karen Hobbs died in a road accident on the northern edge of the town at around 8.45pm last Saturday. She was driving along Belbins to the north of Romsey when her dark blue Mercedes was in collision with a metallic red Peugeot which had been travelling towards Belbins from Cupernham Lane.

The 39-year-old woman who was in the front passenger seat of the Peugeot was taken to Southampton General Hospital with serious injuries and its driver was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

The 39-year-old driver from Chichester has not been named by police and has been released on bail until November 29th.

Miss Hobbs, who was 37 and lived at Morgan Le Fay Drive, Chandler's Ford, was born at Salisbury and after her parents had moved to North Baddesley, she attended the village junior school before going on to Mountbatten at Romsey.

She first worked at a building society and then went into sales and marketing, with such companies as Initial Cleaning Services and Snows Office Supplies.

Then she went to work for her brother, Ricky, at his successful Marques Property Management company, which has been operating in London Road, Southampton, since 1999. Six months ago, he and Karen opened a branch in Bell Street, Romsey, with Karen taking charge.

He said: "She was 100 per cent dependable and had tremendous enthusiasm. She also made a great impression among buyers and vendors and the flowers, cards and bottles of wine she received spoke for themselves.

"The way she got the business up and running in Romsey is a testimony to her commitment."

Away from work, Karen, who is survived by her 15-year-old son Ben, had many friends and her brother added: "Everyone will remember her as someone who was a happy-go-lucky socialiser - larger than life and someone it was a pleasure to be with.

"She was an extremely colourful person, loved by everyone and a person who always put other people first. She was also very caring towards elderly people and was very, very thoughtful."

Karen was very keen on riding and kept her own horse at Chilworth for many years.

Since the accident, flowers have been left at the scene and cards of condolence have been sent to her office by estate agents from throughout the Romsey area.

Traffic officers at Eastleigh have asked anyone who witnessed the collision of has information about the accident to contact Operation Tathra at Eastleigh Police Station on 0845 045 45 45.