PC Matthew Blades, 37, died on Saturday when a car travelling the wrong way down the A66 crashed head-on into his police vehicle in the early hours of the morning.

The police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) confirmed it has launched an investigation into the fatal crash

The two police officers killed in a crash involving a Volkswagen Passat and a police vehicle on the A66 in South Bank have been named as PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough