The family of a well-known Police Community Support Officer who “died from a broken heart” are overwhelmed so many people turned out to mark the first anniversary of her death.
PCSO Sue Medcraft, 55, from Bury St Edmunds, took her own life just days before the funeral of her husband Brian, who passed away on April 29 last year aged 48.
Today, which was the first anniversary of her death, her family and friends, colleagues and members of the community gathered at the play park in St Olaves Road, near the New Bury Community Centre, for the dedication of a bench in her memory.
Sue had been an integral part of the Bury East/West Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) where she worked on the Howard and Mildenhall estates.
Her sister Chris Medcraft, 61, said: “We didn’t expect so many today. We just thought there would a few in the police and local community. We just didn’t expect this many. It’s quite amazing. It’s lovely really.”
And her sister Linda Reeves, 58, said it was a “very sad” occasion, but the family were also “very, very proud”.
“She’s obviously made a big impact.”
Chris added: “You don’t realise how much until you see something like this.”
The plaque on the bench says Sue was “always so happy to help and improve the lives of the communities she served” on the Howard and Mildenhall estates.
Major Glenys Askew, police chaplain for Suffolk Constabulary, said: “It was a pleasure for me to know Sue and so many were touched by her life.”
She said Sue “loved her job,” and found it hard to be off duty, and had an infectious laugh and a great sense of humour.
“She’s been described as being a softy with a hard shell and she could be brutally honest,” she said.
Chris said Sue “idolised Brian,” adding she had died from a broken heart.
“She just couldn’t live without him,” she said.
Sue’s former colleagues felt a bench which could be used by residents and be a place for people to remember her by would be a fitting way to mark the anniversary of her death.
Inspector Jane Hertzog, Local Policing Commander for Bury St Edmunds, said Sue was a well-loved and respected member of the neighbourhood policing team.
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