PC Tom Clough’s final journey was never going to be an ordinary funeral. By the time colleagues gathered to remember him, the 38-year-old officer had already built a career that crossed military service, specialist policing and frontline public protection, leaving behind a network of colleagues stretching far beyond Cleveland.

Clough was killed on 22 August alongside fellow Cleveland Police officer PC Matthew Blades in a catastrophic collision on the A66 near South Bank, Middlesbrough. Their marked police vehicle was involved in a head-on crash with a Volkswagen Pᴀssat, whose five occupants also died.

The tragedy ended a career defined by service.

Before becoming a Cleveland Police officer, Clough served in the British Army, including time in Afghanistan. He later worked for the British Transport Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary before joining Cleveland Police. His professional life therefore placed him in environments where responsibility, risk and public safety were not abstract concepts but everyday realities.

That history became an important part of how colleagues remembered him.

His funeral in Redcar followed the emotional farewell held for Blades in Hartlepool the previous day. The two ceremonies reflected the fact that although the officers died in the same collision, they had lived different lives and built different communities around them.

Clough’s service brought together people who had known him through different stages of his career. Former military colleagues could remember the soldier he had once been. Former police colleagues could remember his years with other forces. Cleveland officers could remember the man they worked beside in the final chapter of his career.

That breadth of service made his death especially difficult for those who had known him over many years.

The circumstances of the crash added another layer of complexity. The Pᴀssat had been involved in a police pursuit before the pursuit was aborted, and reports said it subsequently travelled the wrong way along the A66 before colliding with the officers’ vehicle. Investigators have continued to examine the sequence of events, while the IOPC has been involved because of the police circumstances surrounding the tragedy.

For the public, the crash immediately became a national story because of the number of people killed and the fact that two of the victims were serving police officers.

For Clough’s former colleagues, however, the story was personal.

A police funeral does more than honour the role of an officer. It creates a moment when people from different parts of that officer’s life can stand together. The military background, policing career and private life of the deceased suddenly meet in one place.

The ceremonies for Clough and Blades demonstrated that vividly.

The day before Clough’s funeral, hundreds of police officers had gathered in Hartlepool for Blades. Officers lined the streets around St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, with standard bearers representing forces from throughout the United Kingdom. The ceremony included a motorcycle escort, pipers and a drummer, while the Union Flag-covered coffin was carried into the church.

Clough’s farewell was expected to draw its own extraordinary gathering at Kirkleatham Walled Garden in Redcar, a location that allowed the public and colleagues to come together in remembrance.

The timing of the two funerals also meant that the police community faced two consecutive days of mourning.

One day for Blades.

The next for Clough.

Two ceremonies.

Two families.

Two careers.

One devastating collision.

The deaths have also prompted wider conversations about the challenges facing Cleveland Police and the wider Teesside community. Chief Constable Victoria Fuller has warned that the force faces serious resource pressures and has argued for substantial investment to strengthen policing in the area. The government has also provided emergency support, while additional officers have been brought into the region amid concerns about public disorder and serious crime.

Yet the story of Clough cannot be reduced to those wider debates.

His career tells a more individual story.

It is the story of someone who repeatedly chose professions built around protecting other people.

Military service.

Specialist policing.

Transport policing.

Civil nuclear security.

Frontline policing.

Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pc-matthew-blades-funeral-a66-crash-police-middlesbrough-b3047302.html