Funeral held for police officer killed in A66 crash

Hundreds have turned out for the funeral of one of the police officers killed in a wrong-way crash.

PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, died when a Volkswagen Passat collided with their marked armed response car on the A66 at South Bank, near Middlesbrough, on 22 August. Five young men were also killed.

A full ceremonial police funeral took place for PC Blades in Hartlepool earlier, with hundreds of officers from Cleveland and forces across the country lining the street in a guard of honour.

Speaking on behalf of his family, Cleveland Police Federation chair Lauren Somerville said "life feels unbearably quiet" without the father-of-two's "silly jokes" and laughter.

Members of other emergency services were present alongside community leaders and politicians.

The black hearse, led by a single Cleveland Police motorcycle, was surrounded by officers and bagpipe players.

On top was a simple floral display spelling out 'dad'.

Officers lowered their flags at the side of the street for the procession to pass while uniformed officers carried PC Blades' coffin, wrapped in a union flag, into the church as Amazing Grace was played by the pipers.

Members of the public also lined the streets to pay their respects.

Somerville said flowers had been delivered to the force's stations and people from Australia, France and America had been in touch.

"The support has been overwhelming and it's been comforting," she said.

Somerville added even small acknowledgements of respect from the public, such as a nod or a thank you when they see police out and about, had brought officers "so much strength".

Hutton Avenue in Hartlepool was closed from the junction with Mulgrave Road, alongside St Paul's Road and South Road from the junction with Mitchell Street during the procession.

Somerville said: "All of the officers across the country will have felt this and Cleveland is such a small force, so it's personal to have lost Matthew and Tom.

"I think the common feeling has been a sense of duty and a sense of pride, doing everything we can to make it perfect."

In the lead up to the crash, officers had been pursuing the Passat for almost seven minutes after it was connected to earlier alleged criminal activity, but the pursuit was abandoned 10 seconds before the collision when it turned onto the dual carriageway, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said.

PC Blades and PC Clough were in a vehicle looking for the Passat after its cloned registration plates triggered an automated number plate recognition camera, although they were not involved in the pursuit, according to the IOPC.

Cole Worthy and Theo Rae, both 17, Makai Saddington, 18, and 23-year-olds Michael Cahill and Jakub Matusiak also died in the crash.