A YOUNG man has been killed in a car crash just a month after getting engaged to his girlfriend of seven years.

Owen Fowler, 20, and his fiancee Claire Thrower, had only recently returned from a visit to Paris to celebrate their engagement.

Owen - known to his friends as Fonzy - was killed just before midnight on Friday when the car in which he was travelling hit a tree in Warren Lane, Hartlip, near Rainham.

Emergency services crews from Medway were called to the scene where Owen, a roofer from Parkwood, Rainham, was fatally injured in the back of the red Vauxhall Vectra car.

Lisa McCartney, a close friend of Claire's, said: "They had only been engaged four weeks after seven years together. She is utterly devastated."

Owen lived with his grandmother, Charlotte. He had a brother, James, and a sister named Ashton.

Friends gathered at the scene of the horrific accident in Warren Lane to lay flowers and cards in memory of their friend.

Among the many tributes from friends and family was from Claire, who works as a hairdresser at a salon in Norreys Road, Rainham. It said: "Babe - I will always love you. Take care. Wait 4 me. Tinkabell."