Top school's former head is killed

The former head of one of Britain's leading girls' schools has died after being hit by a car in Greece.

Heather Brigstocke, who was High Mistress of St Paul's Girls' School in London from 1974 to 1989, was run over and killed while walking home from a restaurant on Friday night outside Athens.

Baroness Brigstocke, 74, was in the Greek capital with a group from the children's charity Home-Start International of which she was chairman. Her colleague Rosamund Magid, the assistant director of the organisation, also died in the accident.

The women were killed as they crossed a dual carriageway in front of their hotel after the group's first dinner together in the resort of Glyfada, 12 miles south of Athens.

Tanya Barron, director of Home-Start, said Baroness Brigstocke had decided to return to her hotel just before 11pm and her colleague offered to accompany her.

She said: "They were crossing the road and had made it as far as the central reservation. One car swerved to avoid them but the next hit them." Greek police said the investigation into the two women's deaths could take several months. The funeral will be held next week.