A British stuntman who parachuted into the Olympic Stadium dressed as James Bond during the opening ceremony of London 2012 has been killed in an accident.

Mark Sutton, 41, died yesterday after crashing into a mountain ridge in the Swiss Alps.

He had been invited to take part in a wing-diving event with 19 other wing-suit pilots, which involved being filmed jumping from helicopters.

Wing-suits are special jump suits which increase the surface area of the body and act like a parachute wing, allowing users to glide through the air at high speeds.

The accident happened on the first day of the thee-day event near Martigny, in the Valais canton, near the French border.

Rescuers believe Mr Sutton died on impact, and the cause of the accident is not yet clear.

Mr Sutton took part in one of the most memorable sequence of the Olympics opening ceremony when, dressed as James Bond, he parachuted into the stadium alongside Gary Connery, who was dressed as the Queen.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.