While the precise details of Michael Schumacher's skiing accident remain shrouded in mystery, his spokesperson has been able to shed light on what is thought to have happened.

"Michael and the group had been skiing on normal slopes," Sabine Kehm told reporters in Grenoble. "In between red and blue slopes there was an off-piste area and they went into that.

"He helped a friend who had fallen and went into deep snow, hit a rock and was catapulted into the air and landed head down," she continued. "It was extreme bad luck, not because he was at speed."

Whilst some media reports claim that was skiing at between 50 and 60 mph, locals have said such speeds would not have been possible in the area, and even so Schumacher, who was accompanied by his son, would not have attempted to travel at such speeds in such an obviously rocky area.

Meanwhile, while the medical team treating the German, and even his family, have asked the media for privacy and understanding, Kehm claimed that a 'journalist' was caught attempting to gain entry to Schumacher's hospital room dressed as a priest.

“This is something I would not have thought possible," she told Die Welt. "As soon as his disguise was recognised, he expelled from the hospital.”

Then again, anyone with experience of the tabloid press, especially at a time when pictures of 'the rock' and 'the helicopter' are being served up as "exclusives", will not be surprised to see such disgusting behaviour.