A senior court prosecutor in Sussex has died from breast cancer at the age of 34.

Rachel McConnell was the wife of BBC Southern Counties Radio presenter Marcus McConnell and mother to their three-year-old son Max.

Mrs McConnell died in hospital yesterday after a long battle against the disease.

She was a senior prosecutor with the Sussex Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and regularly appeared at crown and magistrates courts.

At Lewes Crown Court yesterday, Judge Richard Brown paid tribute to Mrs McConnell.

He said: "I received today the sad news of the death of Rachel McConnell. I want to pass on to her husband Marcus and her son Max my sad condolences.

"She was a highly respected advocate and a lovely person and will be missed by all those who knew her."

Alison Saunders, special adviser to Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, QC, and formerly the head of the Sussex CPS, said: "This is such a sad loss.

"Rachel was a great lady and was excellent at her job.

"Rachel worked an awful lot on the local racial harassment forum and forged tremendous links with the community.

"It is very sad and my heart goes out to Marcus and Max."

Mr McConnell, a popular presenter at Southern Counties for several years, has lived most of his life in Brighton.

He was devastated by his wife's death.

Mr McConnell previously wrote on a BBC web site how he proposed to his wife, "a Camberley girl", in Banburgh castle on the "wild and windswept romantic" Northumberland coast.

Mr McConnell is the presenter of Prime Cuts, a weekly round-up of the best of the station's features.

Presenter JoAnne Good worked with Mr McConnell for six years when he was the travel reporter on her breakfast show in Brighton.

She said: "Our team was very close and when Marcus met Rachel she became part of our family.

"They were a lovely couple who were so well suited and we used to love hearing about their life together and their son Max.

"We were all very upset when Rachel became ill with cancer two years ago.

"But she was such a fighter she never became a victim of the disease and only a few days ago was planning to get back to the gym.

"Her death came as a terrible shock and we are all very upset at the news.

"Our thoughts are with Marcus and Max at this very sad time."