Officer killed in wrong-way crash on A66 was excited to coach son's football team

Officer killed in wrong-way crash on A66 was excited to coach son's football team Husband and father-of-two Pc Matthew Blades, who was killed in the crash near Middlesbrough on the A66 yesterday, was preparing to start coaching his son's football team 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, were killed when a Volkswagen Passat that was travelling the wrong way down the A66 dual carriageway near Middlesbrough collided with their marked armed response vehicle that was going in the right direction. The five people who died in the Passat were Michael Robert Cahill, 23; Theo Rae, 17; Cole Robert Worthy, 16; Jacob Matusiak, 23; Makai Saddington, 18. 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. “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,” the club said on social media. “Matty and his oldest son are much-loved members of our club and our U10 Lions football family.” 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 also described the force as a “really tight-knit family” and said the incident “will have a big impact on them”. Meanwhile Anna Turley, MP for the Redcar constituency where the accident happened, said the “whole community is reeling here today” on Sunday morning. The Independent Office for Police Conduct investigating the lead-up to the crash at 3.39am on Saturday in South Bank, Middlesborough, 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 on Saturday afternoon, 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.” The Cleveland police and crime commissioner, who represents areas including Hartlepool, Redcar, Liverpool and Stockton, told Sky News: “It’s my home, it’s where I’m from, and everybody knows everybody else... It is a small place, and the force is a really tight-knit family, really, and I think it will have a big impact on them.” MP Ms Turley paid condolences to the deceased and said the “whole community is reeling here today” on Sunday morning. Cleveland Police is a “close-knit” force and a “police family”, she added. “I know all of them are so professional they’ll be back on with their duties again today.” 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.