Manchester United Honors PC Matthew Blades as 2 Sons Lead Team Out After 7-Death A66 Crash
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 30
Manchester United Honors PC Matthew Blades as 2 Sons Lead Team Out After 7-Death A66 Crash
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 30
Summary
Old Trafford paid tribute to PC Matthew Blades on Sunday as his two sons led Manchester United out with captain Bruno Fernandes before the Premier League match against Ipswich.
United also honored Blades in the match programme, calling the officer — killed on 22 August — a "proud Red," devoted family man and policeman; his widow attended with their children.
The tribute followed the A66 head-on crash near Middlesbrough that killed Blades, fellow officer PC Tom Clough and five people in a wrong-way Passat, taking the death toll to seven.
The crash has prompted wider football memorials, including black armbands at Leeds, a minute's applause at Middlesbrough and tributes at Seaton Carew FC, where Blades had coached.
Police earlier this week arrested 17 more people in the investigation, bringing the total to 24 as the region continues to mark the deaths of the two officers.