Man dies in pool lightning strike

A Devon man has been killed by lightning while on holiday in Italy.

Michael Haffenden, 50, was dangling his legs in a swimming pool at a villa in Tuscany when the storm struck.

The IT recruitment consultant, from the hamlet of Upton Hellions, Crediton, was killed and a family friend seriously injured on Sunday.

A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed Mr Haffenden died two days into the holiday with his wife and three children.

'Lovely' family

A 41-year-old family friend was taken to hospital by helicopter from the hilltop villa at Gaiole near Chianti.

Mr Haffenden and his wife, Fenella, arrived in Italy with their children Rupert, 10, Hector, eight, and three-year-old Cordelia.

A neighbour of the family in Upton Hellions described what had happened was "unbelievable".

Asking not to be named, she said: "They are a lovely family. I am totally shocked by what has happened."

Mr Haffenden helped to establish Sand Resources IT recruitment firm in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1999. In its last financial year, it generated revenues of £6.2m.