Doctor's wife dies in ski accident

A DOCTOR'S wife from Doncaster has died in a skiing accident in the Alps after tumbling 650ft down a slope and hitting a tree.

Experienced skier Brenda Smith, 56, is believed to have lost control on black ice and skidded off the piste in the French resort of Les Deux Alpes before suffering fatal head injuries. Mrs Smith was in the resort with her oral surgeon husband Keith. Dr Smith, a consultant at Sheffield's Charles Clifford Dental Hospital, was in the region for a conference.

Maurice Barker, who is married to Mrs Smith's mother Kathleen, said: "Keith is devastated. We all are, she was such a lovely woman. They went skiing twice a year. She would easily have been able to cope with a black slope." A former neighbour said: "They didn't have children and were devoted to each other.

"It's such a shock to find out that this has happened, Keith will be absolutely distraught. Brenda had an operation about six months ago on a knee she damaged whilst skiing. She has had a couple of operations as a result of skiing but it never put her off."