Minister's daughter dies after skydive kiss

IT WAS a romantic mid-air gesture that would have seemed perfectly normal to an experienced skydiver like Clare Barnes. Yet soon after leaning across to kiss her boyfriend at 14,000ft, tragedy struck.

The parachutes being used by Miss Barnes failed and she fell to the ground near Melbourne, Australia. Friends said she was a "positive, brilliant person" who would be very badly missed.

Miss Barnes, 24, who died on Sunday, was the daughter of Denis MacShane, the minister for Europe, and Carol Barnes, the broadcaster.

She had loved skydiving and derived huge pleasure from it, her family said.

A statement issued by the Foreign Office said: "She died as she lived, living at the edge of experience in a sport that gave her immense pleasure.

"After she jumped with friends from the plane, she kissed her boyfriend as they flew together in the blue skies of Australia, where she found happiness - she was looking forward to living there permanently."

Early investigations suggest Miss Barnes’s main parachute may have become entangled with her reserve parachute. Friends said she was attempting a nine-way formation over an area known as Barwon Heads, north west of Melbourne, around 4pm local time on Sunday.

In the statement, the family said she had fought desperately to save herself.

It read: "Her parachutes malfunctioned and she fought to control her fall all the way to the final, instant oblivion.

"She will live forever in the memory of her parents, family and friends."

Miss Barnes was born in 1979, during a long-term relationship between her parents. Her mother, best known as a newsreader for ITN, and father, a former BBC journalist and president of the National Union of Journalists, never married.

When Mr MacShane moved to Switzerland as head of communications at the International Metalworkers’ Federation, Barnes remained in the London area with her daughter, and struck up a relationship with Nigel Thomson, a cameraman 12 years her junior.

The newsreader proposed after a three-week romance, and the couple wed and had a son, James, now 21.

Mr MacShane, who entered parliament in 1994, when he became the Labour MP for Rotherham, has four children with his wife, Nathalie. He was in Madrid with John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, last Friday to pass on condolences following the terrorist outrage.

The grieving parents, who are to fly out to Australia to make funeral arrangements, described their child as a "lovely and much-loved daughter".

"Clare was close to both her parents, to her brother, James, and her half-sisters and half-brother, who are united in grief at the loss of a beautiful young woman who made more friends in her short life than most manage over decades," they said.

Her younger sister, Kay, moved to Australia several years ago, and her mother has considered buying a property so the two could be close.

Miss Barnes had been in the country for eight months but had travelled in Australia before. She had been a member of the Skydive City Club for the last two years.

Luke McWilliam, a club member, said: "She was a very positive person, a brilliant person, we are all in shock."

The club is to be closed for a "number of days" out of respect and members are planning a memorial service. No-one else was injured in the incident.

A family friend, who did not wish to be named, said: "She was just a passionate skydiver and it was her life."

Barnes, who left ITN but rejoined the news team for the war in Iraq as a lead presenter on the ITV News Channel, also runs a media training and consultancy business in London. She has spoken openly of her love for her daughter, when discussing the demands of career and family life.

In one newspaper article, she wrote: "Clare in particular learned an important lesson from me: women with children can hold down demanding jobs. It is OK for the female of the species to have brains and ambition. It’s not just fathers who have important work.

"When my daughter was 13, she chose to be a weekly boarder (at private school). I was heartbroken but I let her go. She lasted a few weeks and then chose to return.

"The family was reunited - as it should be."

Following the break-up of her marriage to Mr Thomson in 1999, Barnes said: "Since we separated, I’ve become more outgoing.

"I’ve taken up golf and made lots of new friends, although I feel my children are my best friends."

David Mannion, the editor-in-chief of ITV News, said: "Carol’s many friends at ITN were devastated to hear this news. Our hearts go out to [her] and Denis."

An investigation into the incident will be conducted by the Civil Aviation Safety Association and Australian Skydiving Association. A report will be prepared for the coroner.