THE couple who were killed after their car hit a barn wall, four days after Christmas, were driving home from a celebratory meal to mark their first anniversary, their heartbroken family have revealed.

Devoted Paul Kitsull and Cheryl Lewis died when his Mazda RX7 struck the barn near Upton-upon-Severn at 10.10pm on Saturday.

The Malvern couple were returning home after eating at the Drum and Monkey pub in the town, where they had met exactly a year before.

They had recently moved into a flat together in Wells Road, and were said to be a very loving, happy couple.

Paul's mother Barbara, of Albert Park Road, said he was a "popular lad and lovely son".

"Cheryl idolised Paul, and they were a lovely couple," she said. "The times they kissed under the mistletoe this year you could not count.

"In a way, I'm glad they went together. I don't think they'd have coped without each other."

Paul, a 31-year-old father-of-one, worked at CKS warehouse near Upton-upon-Severn, and 22-year-old Cheryl was a hairdresser.

His parents said he "lived for" his car, which he had bought for £200 and restored.

He was always cleaning the car until it was spotless, and people in the street were always commenting on it.

His son Michael, aged three, lives with his mother Debbie. She was "very upset" over the death of Paul, with whom she had had a relationship for seven years.

Cheryl's parents Ruth and Michael, live at Assarts Road, Malvern.

Inquests into the couple's deaths were opened and adjourned in Stourbridge on New Year's Eve by Worcestershire coroner Victor Round.

Their funeral arrangements were due to be confirmed at a later date.