A DEVASTATED father told last night how he found his daughter lying dead in the road near their home - in a second tragedy to hit their village in less than a week.

Melanie Lisa Mullally, 16, collided with a car as she crossed the road outside her grandmother's house in Front Street, Broom Lane, near Durham City.

She sustained severe head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene by a doctor.

Her father, Patrick Mullally, said: "She went down to her grandmother's at tea-time.

"The next thing, we got a phone call from her friend, saying she had been hit by a car.

"I went down and she was lying in the middle of the road. I couldn't find her pulse and I knew she was dead."

The accident happened at about 7.30pm on Saturday, on the B6302 road two miles west of Durham.

Melanie's grandmother, Muriel Lowther, said: "I usually come to the door with her, give her a kiss and tell her to watch out for the road when she crosses. This time she just slipped out and I didn't get the chance to say goodbye."

Melanie, the second of nine children, was a pupil at Deerness Valley Comprehensive and had been preparing to go to Durham Sixth Form College.

Cards and tributes from friends poured in yesterday to the family home in Skippers Meadow, Ushaw Moor - a mile from where she died.

The accident happened only days after cyclist Kevin Frater, of Whitehouse Moor, Ushaw Moor, died in a hit-and-run accident on the road between Bearpark and Ushaw College.

Police said Mr Frater, 38, was struck from behind by a car, shortly before 8pm on New Year's Day.

They are appealing for witnesses who saw him between midday and 7.55pm.

Last night, Melanie's mother, Tracy, said her daughter had only just started enjoying a normal teenage life after battling epilepsy.

"She began having epileptic fits when she was 13, and they were very hard to control," said Mrs Mullally.

An animal lover, Melanie was making her way home to take a neighbour's dog out for a walk when she died.

Her parents told of how she rescued a three-legged cat that she found abandoned.

Mr Mullally said: "Two years ago, someone threw a stray cat over our wall at Christmas.

"She cared for it and nursed it back to health, and it has been with us ever since.

"She was a kind, lovely girl and was very popular. The whole family is devastated, as is everyone on the estate."

Police said it appeared Melanie was running across the road when she was struck by a blue Vauxhall Nova car travelling west.

Both the driver, a 22-year-old man from Brandon, near Durham, and his 16-year-old female passenger, from nearby Langley Moor, were uninjured.