A funeral will be held on Thursday for a police officer who “gave everything to everybody” after he was killed in a crash on the A66 near Middlesbrough. The service for PC Tom Clough, 38, in Redcar, Teesside, comes a day after hundreds of police officers lined the street outside a church in Hartlepool for the service of PC Matthew Blades, 37.
Fatal collision details
The colleagues were in a marked armed response vehicle which was involved in a head-on collision with a VW Passat on the A66 at South Bank, near Middlesbrough, on August 22. Five young men in the Passat, which was heading the wrong way down the dual-carriageway following a police pursuit, were also killed.
Before joining Cleveland Police, PC Clough had served in the British Army in Afghanistan, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and British Transport Police.
Tributes from colleagues
Ahead of PC Clough’s funeral, Cleveland Police Federation chairwoman Lauren Somerville said: “The family want everyone to know that the public’s support has brought them so much comfort. Tom was deeply loved by his colleagues.
“People have been contacting me that worked with Tom years and years ago. It would be an understatement to say that every single place that he served was privileged to have him with them.”
Ms Somerville said he was a much-loved partner, son and brother and the “father” of his beloved sausage dog, Frank. She added: “Tom used to say there wouldn’t be anyone at his funeral and he couldn’t have been more wrong. Tom was described as giving everything to everybody.”
Wider response
Some of the police officers who attended PC Blades’ funeral wore identity patches “PC 2443 BLADES” and “PC 3234 CLOUGH” on their uniforms. Cleveland Police Chief Constable Victoria Fuller has previously said PC Blades and PC Clough were “brave, committed, professional people who put the public before themselves”.
An online fund raised more than £1.2 million for the police officers’ families. Cleveland Police previously said that the five young men who were killed may have had links to organised crime.
