TRIBUTES have been paid to a great grandmother who died in hospital after a car overturned at Marks Tey.

Iris Hadden, 78, of Colchester, died at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge on Wednesday morning after the car she was a passenger in overturned on the A12 last Friday.

She had been with four other members of her family at the time of the incident and was flown by air ambulance to the hospital.

The others - a grandmother, mum and her two children – were taken to Colchester General Hospital with minor injuries and were later released.

Mrs Hadden had been living with her daughter Jackie since 1987 due to her ill heath.

In a statement her family said: “Iris was a very family oriented person and she made the most of her family despite her disabilities.

“Iris always tried valiantly to make the best of a bad situation and she will be sorely missed by all her family.

“She leaves behind two sisters, five children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren with two more on the way.

“Her favourite charity was Whispers, which helps children in Kenya. She loved crossword puzzles, jazz music and shopping.

“The family would like to express their heartfelt thanks to every person who stopped and assisted them at the scene of the crash and to all the emergency services, especially the air ambulance.”

The northbound carriageway of the road was closed for more than four hours following the collision, which happened at 3.25pm last Friday.