A SNOWBALL fight ended in tragedy when a teenager was in collision with a bus in front of his friends.

Stephen Moore, 15, was hit as he threw snowballs with his friends and girlfriend Sarah Beaton, as they left a youth club in Byker, Newcastle, at about 9pm on Tuesday.

Sarah said: "We were throwing snowballs and he was in the middle of the road.

"We both saw the bus coming and I shouted for him to get out of the way, but he did not and it hit him.

"He just lay there and I screamed.

"I ran into the youth club and told the staff. They came running out then telephoned for an ambulance and his mum.

"He was a lovely person and I am devastated."

Stephen was in collision with a single-decker Stagecoach bus in St Michael's Road and died at Newcastle General Hospital.

Stephen's mother, Gillian Brown, 36, a hospital kitchen assistant from Walker, Newcastle, said: "I feel as though my heart has been ripped out and I just want him to come home.

"I just want him back, but I can't have him back."

Stephen was renowned for being a bright and popular pupil and on Thursday night, friends gathered to hold a vigil at the spot where the accident happened.

His mother said he was the perfect older brother to his three siblings, James, 12, Callum, 11 and Shaun, three.

He would look after Shaun when his mother was at work.

His father, also called Stephen, from Action Drive, in North Shields, said: "We have told Shaun that his big brother will not be coming home again.

"We've told him he's in heaven with his grandma.

"Shaun is only young and doesn't really understand, but he will grow up knowing how much Stephen loved him, because we will always tell him that."

Police said they were treating the incident as an accident. The driver is understood to have been unhurt.