THE family of Swindon College student Vicky Bailey said they will miss the 18-year-old’s smile and her sense of humour after her sudden death.

“I am going to miss her smile; she didn’t like to have her photo taken but she had a fantastic smile,” said her stepmother Kerry.

Vicky, originally from Stratton, was studying public services at the college in the hope of becoming a police officer when she was found dead on April 22.

Police are not treating her death as suspicious.

Kerry, of South Cerney, near Cirencester, said her death has been a shock to Vicky’s siblings Carla, Stephen, Aaron and Carly – to whom she had always been close.

“It’s still so rough,” said Kerry, 38.

“It’s just horrible. I feel empty sometimes because part of the family is not here. It feels like your whole life just opens up.

“It has been difficult, especially for her niece Alissa, who is two.

“They were close. Alissa bought Vicky a pink teddy for her to take on holiday to heaven.

“You never know what you are going to do until it happens to you. I want her to be remembered for the smiling happy person she was.”

Her father Paul, 46, recalled his daughter’s habit of dangling Oreos, her favourite snack, in front of him to tease him because he hated them so much.

“She loved her Oreos and her biscuits,” he said.

“She had an amazing sense of humour. She liked to look at the funny side of things.

“She used to try to wind me up with her Oreos, and put them in front of me and say ‘you know you want to try them’, because she knew I found them disgusting.

He added: “I will miss her singing. She had a nice voice.”

Vicky had had the word Dad tattooed on one of her wrists as a tribute to her loving father.

Kerry added: “She really got on very well with her siblings, she was very close to them.

“She was very mature for her age. She had troubles like every teenager. She was strong-willed and very caring.

“There is so much we will remember.

“She was very well known and we have received a lot of messages from friends we didn’t even know she had.

“She didn’t always go out with them but she was there for them. It’s nice to know she had friends.”

Vicky’s funeral will be held at Kingsdown Crematorium on Thursday, May 22 at 11.15am.

The families is asking for donations to be made to charity Survivors Of Bereavement By Suicide in memory of Vicky. Donations in her memory can also be sent to the Co-operative Funeralcare, 439 Cricklade Road, SN2 1AQ.