ESSEX Police Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh was among those to pay tribute to PC Craig Pledger, a \u201cvery popular and respected young officer\u201d who was found dead in Cornwall.<\/p>\n
Mr Kavanagh said he was \u201cdeeply shocked and saddened\u201d to learn of the death of PC Pledger, who leaves behind a three-year-old daughter.\u00a0The 28-year-old was found dead at Stithians Dam in Stithians village in Cornwall, where he grew up, on 24 February following a long battle with severe depression.\u00a0He had been staying at his parent\u2019s home in the village at the time.<\/p>\n
His family described him as \u201ca very popular and well-known member of the community\u201d and said he had played rugby and cricket for the village since he was 17.<\/p>\n
PC Pledger\u00a0joined Essex Police in 2008 and had served in Southend and Grays in a variety of local policing roles, as well as playing rugby for the force.<\/p>\n
\u201cCraig had been battling against severe depression for a long time, sadly losing his life on Tuesday 24 February 24 2015 at the hands of this illness,\u201d said his family in a statement. \u201cWhilst outwardly, Craig was always known for his kindness, time for others, broad smile and sense of fun, there was a sadness behind his smile that he tried to manage on his own, so many \u2013 including his family and close friends \u2013 did not know the depths of his depression or the complexity of his mental illness.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family thanked everyone for their kindness and said they wished that PC Pledger had been able to fully comprehend just how deeply he was loved by so many.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a loyal friend, a loving son, a caring brother and a doting father,\u201d\u00a0they said.\u00a0\u201cHe leaves behind a three-year-old daughter and was at his happiest when with his daughter, or playing rugby, or in the pub with his mates; this is how his family hope that he will be remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Kavanagh said: \u201cI was deeply shocked and saddened to learn of Craig\u2019s death and my heart goes out to his family and friends. In conjunction with Devon and Cornwall Police we are providing specialist support to Craig\u2019s family and to his colleagues at this sad and difficult time. PC Pledger was a valued member of Essex Police and will be greatly missed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark Smith, Chairman of Essex Police Federation, said: “We were so sad to hear of this news. Our thoughts with PC Pledger’s family, friends and colleagues.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ESSEX Police Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh was among those to pay tribute to PC Craig Pledger, a \u201cvery popular and respected young officer\u201d who was found dead in Cornwall. Mr\u2026 read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1841,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions\/1841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}