One of two police officers killed in a crash that also took five other lives was a football coach looking forward to teaching his son, his club has said. Pc Matthew Blades, 37, and Pc Tom Clough, 38, died when a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way down the A66 dual carriageway near Middlesbrough collided with their marked armed response vehicle going in the right direction.
Coach's club pays tribute
Husband and father-of-two Pc Blades had recently become a Seaton Carew FC coach and was preparing for his first turn teaching its under-sevens Seahawks squad. The club said on social media: “He was looking forward to being part of the team and, most importantly, to coaching his own son, who is going to be playing for the Seahawks this season.”
“Matty and his oldest son are much-loved members of our club and our U10 Lions football family,” the club added.
Community and force reaction
Ex-frontline responder Graham Wettone, who served in the Metropolitan Police for more than three decades, said Cleveland Police staff “will literally know most people” in the force and the effect of the crash will be “massive”. Cleveland police and crime commissioner Matt Storey described the force as a “really tight-knit family” and said the incident “will have a big impact on them”.
Anna Turley, MP for the Redcar constituency where the accident happened, said the “whole community is reeling here today” on Sunday morning. She paid condolences to the deceased and said Cleveland Police is a “close-knit” force and a “police family”.
Investigation and tributes
The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating the lead-up to the crash at 3.39am on Saturday in South Bank, Middlesbrough, after a mandatory referral from Cleveland Police. Officers had spotted a suspicious vehicle and a pursuit began before the car travelled onto the A66 and collided with a police car, the watchdog said. It is understood the police vehicle Pc Blades and Pc Clough were travelling in was not part of the pursuit.
The families of the five males who were travelling in the Volkswagen are being supported by officers, Cleveland Police said on Saturday. In a statement to reporters, Cleveland Police Chief Constable Victoria Fuller said: “These were brave officers protecting our communities and serving our residents who didn’t return home to their families at the end of their shift.”
Cleveland Police Federation chairwoman Lauren Somerville said: “Words cannot describe the pain the Cleveland Police family are feeling today. Our colleagues who should have been going home to their loved ones at the end of their shifts are not. And that is just unfathomable.”
The tragedy prompted other police forces to send their condolences, including the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Sussex Police and the Met. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was “devastated” to hear about the crash, while Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said her thoughts were with all those affected.
