NEWCASTLE city centre was brought to a standstill today as hundreds of people paid their last respects to a village bobby who died doing his duty.

The funeral of Pc Joe Carroll, took place in Newcastles Roman Catholic Cathedral. His local church in Bellingham, Northumberland, was too small to accommodate the mourners.

Shoppers and office workers stood silently as the coffin was piped into The Church of St Mary at noon.

The much-loved bobby was followed by his widow Caroline, 46, and scores of family members and friends who were in the official cortege.

Hundreds of police officers had already arrived at the church, which has room for 500 people and was full for the funeral.

The procession left Pc Carrolls home near Bellingham, where he was a beat bobby for 13 years, in mid-morning for the 33-mile trip and was flanked by police motorcycle outriders.

On its final few hundred yards four police horses escorted the hearse to the cathedral.

Pc Carrolls coffin was adorned with white roses, perhaps a mark of his Yorkshire roots.

He was born in Batley and joined his local force for two years before moving to Northumbria Police in 1984.

His mother Hilda and sisters Trish and Mary still live in West Yorkshire.

The 46-year-old officer died almost a fortnight ago on the A69 near Hexham when the patrol car he was driving overturned as he transported a suspect to the cells.

Inspector Brian English, also in the car and also injured, remains on sick leave but attended the funeral today.

Steven Graham, 39, a staff sergeant at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, has been charged with the manslaughter of Pc Carroll, and causing actual bodily harm to Inspector English.