Senior police officer is injured in collision with drunken skier

A senior Metropolitan Police officer is in a critical condition in hospital after being in collision with with a drunken skier while on holiday in the Italian Alps. Superintendent Clive Wakeley, 49, suffered severe head injuries in the collision in Bardonecchia, northern Italy.

Both Mr Wakeley and the man who hit him, reported to be a 21-year-old Italian, were taken to a nearby hospital and Mr Wakeley is now in an induced coma. An Italian police spokesman said: "The British man was hit at very high speed and we think he received the full impact of the skier's boots to his head. The man who hit him was twice the drink-drive limit and very drunk."

Mr Wakeley, from Edgware in north London, is a detective in the Scotland Yard's central operations directorate.

A police colleague, Detective Chief Superintendent John Corrigan, said: "It is going to be a long journey for Clive and his family. Our thoughts are all with his wife and three children at this time."

A 21-year-old Italian man will appear in court in Turin on suspicion of grievous bodily harm in connection with the incident, police said.