Police Unity Tour: PCC completes bike ride for bereaved families

Festus Akinbusoye completed the 200-mile challenge with 15 police officers from across Essex and Bedfordshire

A police and crime commissioner (PCC) has completed a 200-mile bike ride in honour of bereaved police families.

Festus Akinbusoye, the Bedfordshire PCC, embarked on the three-day Police Unity Tour with 15 officers from the Essex and Bedfordshire forces.

The annual cycle to the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire supports the families of police officers killed on duty.

"It was a very powerful moment that I will never forget," Mr Akinbusoye said.

He said he was left "gobsmacked" after doubling his initial fundraising target of £500.

The charity ride brought together more than 300 cyclists representing police forces across the country.

Mr Akinbusoye said he was inspired to take to the saddle after attending the funeral of PC Andrew Harper in 2019.

The Thames Valley officer was killed after he was dragged for more than a mile to his death when his feet got caught in a strap trailing behind a suspect's getaway car.

"The reality is that there are very few jobs in this country where people can leave their home in the morning and they cannot guarantee that they can come back," Mr Akinbusoye said.

Each participant received a blue band in memorial of a police constable who has died whilst on duty

Each rider was given a blue band to wear in memory of a police officer who died in the line of duty.

Mr Akinbusoye, 44, rode for fellow Bedfordshire officer John Simmons, who was killed in a road traffic collision on his way home from work on 5 August, 2006.

He said he will give the blue band to Mr Simmons' family in the coming days.

"I did not know who John Simmons was, but now I feel like I do because I have learned his story," he said.