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Met police officer dies in ski plunge as wife looks on
Peter Allen in Paris17 Mar 2009
A METROPOLITAN police officer died in front of his wife on a skiing holiday in France.
Michael Probert, 43, lost control as he skied down a slope in Alpe d'Huez, and fell into a 10ft ditch, hitting his head.
His wife Emma, a Scotland Yard Royal Protection sergeant who was praised for her work on the day of the 7/7 bombings, was watching as the tragedy unfolded.
Mr Probert, a pursuit driver based in Harrow, was declared dead at the scene on Saturday.
He was with his wife and friends skiing within sight of the village of Villard-Reculas, part of the vast Alpe d'Huez resort, where they had just begun a week's holiday.
Mr Probert was an inexperienced skier, and was on low slopes considered safe for beginners and intermediates.
The group had just finished lunch when they began descending a low gradient blue run - the third hardest after black and red - with few obstacles.
But as he approached the ditch he lost control and fell into it, said emergency workers who attended the scene by motorised sledge.
They arrived in minutes, but Mr Probert had suffered a heart attack and could not be revived even though his injuries appeared slight. A spokesman for the French high mountain police said: "The emergency services reached the victim extremely quickly but could not save him. Cause of death was a heart attack caused by the shock of the fall.
"The victim has been out skiing with his family and friends, some of whom witnessed the accident."
Mrs Probert was praised for her work following the 7 July terrorist attacks when she was a sergeant in Camden.
She was among the first officers on the scene in Tavistock Square where suicide bomber Hasib Hussain killed 13 when he exploded his rucksack bomb on a bus.
Neighbours of the couple in StAlbans said they last saw Mr Probert on Friday evening when he was looking forward to the coming week.One neighbour said: "He was a lovely man and so friendly. I think he believed in working hard and playing hard and that's why they loved their skiing holidays and, when they could, they would take their boat to go waterskiing."
In Alpe d'Huez, the slopes were crowded with weekend skiers and snowboarders enjoying unseasonably warm weather.
Conditions in the resort were good with bright sunshine and excellent visibility. A spokesman for the local tourist office said: "Serious accidents, especially fatalities, usually take place off piste where conditions can be extremely dangerous.
"It is unusual to have a fatality on low pistes because they are usually extremely safe."
