Two Cleveland Police officers who left their families at home to begin a night shift protecting their communities were tragically killed in a collision on the A66 in the early hours of Saturday morning.
It has taken us some time at Police Hour to find the words to write this article.
We have covered the deaths of police officers for many years, and through Police Hour we have helped raise more than £1 million for the families of fallen officers.
But this one has been particularly difficult.
Hartlepool is our home town. PC Matthew Blades was one of our own, a familiar and much-loved member of the local community whose loss is being felt throughout Hartlepool, including within its football and rugby communities.
This tragedy has hit our community hard.
Two officers who went to work and never came home
PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, were serving officers with Cleveland Police.
At approximately 3.39am on Saturday 22 August 2026, the officers were travelling in a marked Cleveland Police Armed Response Vehicle on the A66 at South Bank, Teesside.
Cleveland Police confirmed that a Volkswagen Passat carrying five men was travelling in the wrong direction along the A66 when it collided with the police vehicle, which was travelling in the correct direction.
PC Blades and PC Clough tragically died at the scene. The five men travelling in the other car also died.
Police Hour will not be naming the five men in this article.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating the circumstances surrounding the collision following a mandatory referral. Cleveland Police has urged people not to speculate while that investigation continues.
PC Matthew Blades
PC Matthew Blades was much more than the uniform he wore.
He was a husband, a father of two young boys, a son, a brother, a friend and an active member of the Hartlepool community.
His loss is being felt deeply throughout the town, including within its football and rugby communities.
For those of us who call Hartlepool home, this is not simply a national policing story.
One of our community went to work that night to protect others and never returned to his family.
PC Tom Clough
Alongside Matthew was PC Tom Clough.
Tom was a dedicated firearms officer who had committed himself to protecting the public.
Behind the words “police officer” was a person with a family, friends and colleagues who expected him to finish his shift and return home.
He never got that opportunity.
They went to work to protect us
Police officers do something most of us rarely have to contemplate.
They leave their families, walk through the door and begin a shift without knowing what they will face before they return.
On Saturday morning, two families received the news every police family fears.
PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough had gone to work to protect the public.
They never made it home.
There are children who now face a future without their dad. Partners have lost the person they expected to spend their lives alongside. Parents, siblings, friends and colleagues have lost people who simply cannot be replaced.
No fundraiser can change that.
No amount of money will bring Matthew or Tom home, and it cannot begin to compensate their families for what has been taken from them.
But it can perhaps make what comes next a little gentler.
Please support their families
A GoFundMe appeal has been established to support the families of PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough.
Police Hour has helped raise more than £1 million for the families of fallen police officers over the years.
Ordinarily, following a tragedy of this magnitude, we would consider launching our own appeal.
On this occasion, we won’t.
There is already a fundraiser supporting the officers’ families and, rather than establish another appeal and divide the incredible generosity of the policing community and wider public, we want to put our support behind the existing fundraiser.
Donate to the GoFundMe appeal:
https://gofund.me/ab069fd30
Please stand behind their families
If you can afford to donate, please do.
It won’t bring these two officers home.
It won’t take away the grief.
It won’t make a child understand why their dad isn’t walking back through their front door.
But perhaps it can remove one financial worry.
Perhaps it can give their families the time and space they need to grieve.
And perhaps, collectively, we can make the road ahead just a tiny bit gentler for the people Matthew and Tom loved most.
PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough went to work that night to protect us.
Now it is our turn to stand behind the families they leave behind.
Rest in peace, Matthew and Tom.
We will remember you.