Police pay touching tribute with patches dedicated to officers killed in A66 crash

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Hundreds of police officers held a moving funeral for PC Matthew Blades who was killed in a collision on the A66.

His colleagues in white caps hugged each other as they remembered PC Blades, who was an armed response officer.

Standard bearers represented every UK force at the service at St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in his home town of Hartlepool.

He was killed with his colleague PC Tom Clough, 38, in a horrific collision at South Bank, near Middlesbrough, in which five young men also died.

Some of the officers who lined the length of Hutton Avenue outside the red-brick church wore identity patches PC 2443 BLADES and PC 3234 CLOUGH on their uniforms.

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The hearse had a white and red floral tribute which read ‘Dad’ on the roof for the married father-of-two.

Pall bearers carry the coffin of PC Matthew Blades into his funeral at St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Hartlepool. Pc Blades died when a car going in the wrong direction hit a police car on the A66 near Middlesbrough. Picture date: Wednesday September 9, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire
Officers wore identity patches for PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough at the funeral. (Photo: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)
Members of the police console each other ahead of the funeral for PC Matthew Blades into St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Hartlepool, Britain, September 9th, 2026. Seven people including two police officers ???died in a car crash last month in northeast England after a car heading the wrong way down a major road hit a marked police armed response car. REUTERS/Scott Heppell
Members of the police console each other ahead of the funeral for PC Matthew Blades
(Picture: REUTERS)

The standard bearers lowered their flags as the hearse, led by a police motorbike outrider, approached the church.

Four officers on horseback stood guard beside a cordon where hundreds of members of the public were also paying tribute.

Before the service, traffic officers in white caps hugged each other as they remembered PC Blades, who was an armed response officer.

Four pipers and a drummer processed in front of the funeral car and they played Amazing Grace as the coffin, covered by a Union Flag, was brought in.

Emergency service representatives from the North East Ambulance Service and Great North Air Ambulance were also there.

Cleveland Police Chief Constable Victoria Fuller greeted mourners at the entrance to the church.

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