Tributes paid to ex-policeman Bob Anthony
Police officers turned out to say a final farewell to a former colleague who died three years after suffering catastrophic injuries in a motorbike crash in Thailand.
A police helmet was placed on the coffin of Bob Anthony during an emotional service.
The former West Mercia Police officer was left paralysed following a horror crash in 2014.
More than £17,000 was raised to bring him home following an appeal by his family.
The father, who served the force for 20 years, suffered a broken neck after being discovered in a ditch in Pattaya and was left needing a ventilator to breath.
After being flown back to the UK he was initially treated at a hospital in Oswestry before returning home to Kidderminster.
Donated
The 57-year-old died on July 7. His funeral at Wyre Forest Crematorium on July 26 was attended by many of Mr Anthony’s ex-police colleagues.
Mr Anthony leaves behind his wife Kate, aged 59, children Steven, 31, and Nadine, 29, and grandchildren Gabriella Maffei, 10, Dominic Maffei, seven, and two-year-old Madison Haywood.
Nadine Anthony said: “I just want to say if it wasn’t for all the people who donated, we wouldn’t have had the short two-and-a-half years that we had.
“My dad was caring, funny, loved to travel the world, he was in the army and he went in the police force.”
Mr Anthony served in the Royal Signals for 14 years before becoming a police officer, based in Kidderminster.
After retiring he moved to Thailand with his wife Kate, where the crash happened.
Miss Anthony said: “He came back and his condition improved with treatment.
“I did bring a police helmet to the funeral and I placed it on top of the coffin, I have got it at home with me now.
“We all miss him badly.
Miss Anthony also paid tribute to her father’s wife Kate, who had cared for him since the crash.
She said: “I want to say thank you to Kate as well because she’s stuck by him through thick and thin.
“She did a fantastic job, it’s not an easy thing to care for the person who you love.
“He was surrounded all the time by his family in his last few days.”
She added: “He loved to travel the world, he’s been all over, we did go to America when we were younger to Orlando.”
