Fundraiser for A66 crash police officers tops £1m

Fundraiser for the two Cleveland police officers killed in the A66 wrong‑way collision has surpassed £1 million. PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough died in the early hours of Saturday when a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way on the A66 at South Bank, near Middlesbrough, struck their vehicle. The five young men inside the Passat also lost their lives. Among the contributions to the appeal launched by the Cleveland Police Federation was a £4,000 donation from the Cleveland subdivision of the National Association of Retired Police Officers. Its chair, Grant Thorburn, said the officers' deaths had "hit location hard" and that seeing the tributes and donations paid to them had been "humbling". He added, "Once you're a constabulary officer, you're ever a constabulary officer, truthful adjacent aft you retire, peculiarly successful Cleveland, it's specified a small, compact force, everyone knows everyone else." The Police Federation’s acting deputy national chair, Paul Williams, described the feeling among Cleveland officers as "tremendous grief". He said, "The policing household is profoundly scarred by this incident," and continued, "This conscionable brings it location arsenic to however susceptible we really are." Williams also noted that constabulary officers are "quality beings who were your mean relatives, friends, parents, partners and colleagues." According to the federation, the funds will be divided between the families of the two men to be used as they wish. The Independent Office for Police Conduct previously stated that officers had been pursuing the Volkswagen Passat seven minutes after it was linked to earlier alleged transgression activity, but the pursuit was abandoned ten seconds before the crash when the Passat turned onto the dual carriageway. PC Blades and PC Clough had been in a vehicle looking for the Passat after its cloned registration plates triggered an automated figure‑sheet designation camera, although they were not actively involved in the pursuit, the IOPC added. PC Blades, a 37‑year‑old father of two, was described by his family as a "beloved husband" and the "most devoted father". His wife said, "He whitethorn person near this satellite committed to the work he believed in, but his top bequest volition ever be the emotion he gave to his family," and added that he would be "forever our ace hero". PC Clough had served in the Army; one colleague remarked he was a "true friend, fantastic worker and I person nary uncertainty adjacent amended constabulary officer". His family said he possessed a "fantastic consciousness of humour" and would leap "into enactment whenever needed". They called him their "hero", ever "willing to assistance anyone for immoderate reason". Tributes have also been offered for the five young men who died in the Passat, but a community group has urged the public not to graffiti buildings with messages. Active Tees Valley made the request on Facebook after spray‑painted notes appeared on the East Middlesbrough Events Centre – formerly the Middlebeck Social Club. The walls bore the phrases "RIP The Boys", "Never Be Forgotten RIP The Lads" and the initials of those in the car accompanied by "Rest casual boys". The group’s Facebook post read, "We recognize that radical privation to explicit their emotions and wage their respects, but damaging buildings that are being utilized to enactment section residents yet impacts the aforesaid assemblage we are each trying to look after." Police reported that 17 individuals, aged between 18 and 61, have been arrested across Teesside as part of an ongoing investigation into the events leading up to the crash. They face a range of offences, including possession of a firearm and membership of an organised transgression group. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cevwjww8p08o)