Policing minister Sarah Jones, local MP Anna Turley and Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen have joined hundreds of police officers, emergency service workers, military veterans and members of the public at the funeral of PC Tom Clough in Redcar, according to reports from PA Media.

The service at Kirkleatham Walled Garden was a more private affair than Thursday's funeral for his colleague PC Matthew Blades, where hundreds of members of the public lined the streets of Hartlepool. We previously reported that PC Clough's service was not a more private gathering; in fact, while attended by representatives from all 43 police forces across England and Wales, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Royal British Legion, it was a more contained event.

The ceremonial procession along Plantation Road began in silence before a lone piper played a lament. Four mounted police officers led the cortege, followed by the hearse carrying the 38-year-old armed response officer's coffin, draped in the Union flag and topped with his custodian helmet. Military and police pallbearers escorted the coffin to the humanist service.

Many colleagues wore commemorative collar badges and identity patches bearing the numbers 'PC Blades 2443 PC Clough 3234' in memory of the two Matrix team officers.

Lauren Somerville, chair of the Cleveland Police Federation, relayed tributes on behalf of PC Clough's family, noting he had once told his partner nobody would attend his funeral. Describing him as someone who gave 'everyone his everything', Ms Somerville said his family wanted him remembered as a partner, brother, and son who was full of fun and devoted to his sausage dog, Frank, adding that the outpouring of public support had sustained them over recent weeks.

A family statement issued through Cleveland Police described him as 'our hero with a fantastic sense of humour' who 'proudly fought for his country to make the world a better place'. Between 2006 and 2012, PC Clough served as a lance corporal in the British Army's Royal Logistic Corps with the 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search Regiment, completing operational tours of Iraq and Afghanistan. He later served with the British Transport Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary at Sellafield, where his former commanding officer, Chief Superintendent Richard Clark, described him as the 'epitome of professionalism'.

PC Clough died alongside PC Blades, 37, in the early hours of 22 August when a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way struck their marked armed response vehicle head-on at high speed on the A66 at South Bank, near Middlesbrough. Five young men inside the Passat were also killed: Cole Robert Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, Michael Robert Cahill, 23, and Jakub Matusiak, 23.

PC Blades's funeral took place with full police honours at St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Hartlepool, where his widow paid tribute to him as her 'beloved best friend' and the 'heart of our family'.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) confirmed that officers had pursued the Passat for nearly seven minutes following reports of suspected criminal activity, terminating the pursuit seconds before the crash when the vehicle entered the dual carriageway. The watchdog confirmed that PC Clough and PC Blades were not involved in the pursuit, but had been searching for the car after an automated camera flagged its cloned registration plates.

Earlier, a 39-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault following a disturbance at Teesside Crematorium during the funeral of Cole Worthy. A property linked to Mr Worthy in Acklam, Middlesbrough, had previously been rammed and damaged, with Cleveland Police stating that the occupants of the car may have had links to organised crime.

I will continue to follow the investigation and report further details as they are announced.