FRIENDS have paid tribute to a killed Vietnamese woman whose body was found in a burning car.

They spoke after two men appeared before magistrates sitting at Newcastle Crown Court charged with murdering Quyen Ngoc Nguyen, 29, a mother-of-one.

Her body was found in a burning car near allotments in Shiney Row near Sunderland in the early hours of Tuesday.

No details of the case were revealed in the two-minute hearing as Stephen Unwin, 39, of St Oswald's Terrace, Houghton, Tyne and Wear, and William McFall, 50, of Waterloo Road, Blackpool, were remanded in custody.

Unwin, wearing a grey sweatshirt, and McFall, who had an Irish accent and wore his glasses on top of his head, confirmed their age and address.

They will be back before the court on Tuesday.

Nine people from the Vietnamese community were in the public gallery, some wearing white cloth on their arms or around their heads.

One man carried a photograph of the dead woman, who lived in the Killingworth area of North Tyneside.

Outside court a female friend said: "She was the most beautiful and kind girl.

"Since she died, people have come from all over the UK, from Birmingham and London, everywhere, just to see her picture.

"Even now, they cannot see her body.

"She never upset anybody."

The friend said Ms Nguyen was working having studied for an MBA in business in the UK.

  • NOTE: All pictures taken with consent of family and friends