Home Office minister Anna Turley has drawn criticism from a Conservative MP for her tribute to five individuals killed in a road accident that also claimed the lives of two police officers. The incident occurred when a car, driven by the five deceased individuals, collided head-on with a police response vehicle on the A66.
Turley, who is also the local Labour MP for South Bank where the crash took place, posted on social media the day after the incident, sharing a photograph of herself laying flowers for all seven victims. She wrote, "This morning I went down to South Bank to lay flowers and pay my respects, on behalf of our whole community, to the seven people whose lives were so tragically cut short yesterday. There really are no words for the heartbreak their families, friends and loved ones will be feeling today. May you all rest in peace."
Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy criticized Turley's statement, arguing that it placed the five individuals who died in the car on an equal footing with the two police officers. Timothy stated, "Two police officers - one an army veteran - were needlessly killed while on service. The five thugs who caused the crash - who killed PC Tom Clough and PC Matthew Blades - also died."
He added, "These criminals, with many past offences between them, were driving illegally and irresponsibly the wrong way down an A road. We don't want to speak ill of the dead, I understand that. But the tragedy is the loss of those two police officers. The five thugs who killed them were responsible not only for their own demise but for the deaths of two innocent men."
Timothy concluded, "We may live in an age of emoting, but we should be able to see the difference between right and wrong. And it doesn't feel right for a Home Office minister to put two police officers on a par with the thugs who killed them."
In response, Turley sent a letter to Timothy, expressing her "utterly appalled" reaction to his criticism. She maintained that "all [seven dead] were human beings with families who are grieving them" and accused Timothy of seeking "media hits and political points out of this horrendous event."
Turley also claimed that the identities of the five individuals in the car were not publicly known at the time of her tribute and that Cleveland Police had "specifically requested that I pay tribute to all victims in any message." Cleveland Police declined to confirm or deny if such a directive had been issued to the local MP when approached for comment.
Timothy has since written back to Turley, calling the alleged police request "an extraordinary thing" and stating he had "never known such a request to be made in [his] years working with the police." He has asked Turley to provide written evidence of the alleged request from the local force.
PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, died when their police vehicle was struck by a car traveling the wrong way down the A66. The crash occurred approximately 10 seconds after a police pursuit of the car had been called off. The incident has also been marked by reports of youths setting off flares and fireworks in tribute to the five individuals who died in the car, contrasting with a silent prayer vigil held for the two fallen officers.
