Newsreader Carol Barnes has spoken of her last emotional goodbye to her daughter before she plunged to her death in a sky-diving accident.

Miss Barnes said she almost had a premonition of the tragedy.

Speaking for the first time about the loss of 24-year-old Clare she said: "We had a big hug, much bigger than usual, and as I walked away we took this long look at each other.

"I really felt there was something different in that last goodbye - it was more poignant than usual."

Two months later, in March this year, Clare Barnes fell 14,000ft to her death when her parachute failed to open during a jump in Melbourne, Australia.

In a moving interview, Miss Barnes, who lives at Brighton Marina, said: "I still feel I'm living in a nightmare.

"The realisation hasn't really sunk in yet and I don't know if it ever will.

"The days and weeks after the news were like a hazy dream - nothing seemed real. I just can't think of her as dead."

The ITN newsreader received the news of her daughter's death in a phone call from Clare's boyfriend, sky-dive instructor Chris "Douggs" MacDougall, who had jumped with her.

He told how Clare had "fought to the end" in a desperate struggle to save herself.

Miss Barnes said: "I didn't want to hear she fought it to the end. I didn't care. All I knew was she was dead. It was all unreal.

"After I put the receiver down it hit me. I ran around the house crying, screaming and banging walls."

Clare had been in Australia for eight months and Miss Barnes last saw her on a visit there two months before her death.

She said one of her greatest regrets is that she will never be a grandmother to Clare's children.

And she admitted wishing she had spent more time with her daughter during her early years instead of concentrating on work.

She has now made a shrine to her daughter in Clare's bedroom at her flat.

At the centre is a casket containing Clare's ashes. It is surrounded by photographs and treasured mementoes, including her tattered wallet and gold tongue stud.

In an effort to try to cope with her grief, Miss Barnes has thrown herself into her work.

She is stepping up her workload for ITV's 24-hour digital news channel and hopes it will help take her mind off her enormous loss.

She said: "I'm sure Clare would want me to be happy again. Sometimes I think of her sitting up on her cloud, saying, 'Go for it, Mum!'"

This summer Miss Barnes will take over from Angela Rippon presenting the channel's current affairs programme on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Clare was the only daughter of Miss Barnes and Government minister Denis MacShane. The couple separated in the Eighties.

She said losing Clare had helped rekindle her friendship with Mr MacShane, a Minister for Europe with the Foreign Office.

Miss Barnes also has a son James, 22, from her marriage to ITN cameraman Nigel Thomson.

Despite worrying about her daughter's passion for sky-diving, Miss Barnes bought her a week's intensive training in the sport last year.

An investigation into the accident is under way and will explore whether Clare failed to pack her parachute properly, or whether it was faulty.

Whatever the outcome, the family do not intend to pursue any legal action.