A WOMAN has told French maritime police how she struggled in vain to save her unconscious husband after the private plane they were in crashed into the sea.

Guernsey Police confirmed the identities of the couple as (William) Ian Dickinson, 79, and Constance Dickinson, who is understood to prefer to be known as Anne-Marie, 78.

The couple were flying to their home in Alderney from Lee-on-Solent on Saturday. Shortly before 3.50pm the Piper PA28-181 Archer with Mr Dickinson at the controls ditched about 25 miles north-west of Guernsey in the east-bound shipping lane near Jobourg, Manche.

Mrs Dickinson, who escaped unhurt, was airlifted by helicopter to Cherbourg and treated for hypothermia and shock in the Pasteur Hospital, where she was interviewed by the Gendarmerie Maritime.

Christelle Haar, a communications officer at the Maritime Prefecture in Cherbourg, said the woman had described how she attempted to get her husband, 79, out of the cockpit as the plane began to sink. ‘She had to leave her husband and get out of the plane and save herself,’ said Mme Haar.