AN 18-year-old A-level pupil murdered by her father was this weekend described as a "model student" who had hoped to read medicine.

Francesca McFall, known as Frankie, was found dead at her home in Oswestry, Shropshire, with her mother Sue, 56, in the early hours of Friday. Her father, Hugh, was later found dead in an industrial lock-up a few miles away.

Frankie had been posting entries on her Facebook site shortly before she was killed. Friends said the family had recently returned from a holiday in New York and seemed in good spirits.

Margaret Lloyd, one of Frankie's teachers, said: "This is beyond comprehension. She was very level-headed and a studious girl - a model student. She had a brilliant future ahead of her. She wanted to do medicine and would have been a great success."

There were unconfirmed reports this weekend that Hugh McFall, 48, who owned a wholesale flower business, had been struggling with debts.

James Bond, a neighbour and friend of the McFalls, said they had never spoken about financial problems. "I have been racking my brains as to why it would happen," he said.

Sue McFall, who had two grown-up children from a previous marriage, had given up her job as a bank cashier to work for the business.

Frankie was in the sixth form at Oswestry school, an independent school close to the family home. She was updating her Facebook page on Thursday evening and said she was "buzzing" about her date for a forthcoming Valentine's ball.

Yesterday, friends arrived at her home to lay flowers. Ffion Lloyd, 17, who grew up with Frankie, said: "She was a bright girl. She was always there for you if you needed to talk to someone. She was happy and bubbly and so were her mum and dad."

Prayers will be said for the McFall family at St Oswald's church in Oswestry today. Simon Thorburn, vicar of Oswestry and rector of Rhydycroesau, said: "This is clearly a terrible tragedy."

West Mercia police said it was treating the deaths as a family tragedy and nobody else was being sought.