Memorial service for police chief

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Carolyn Todd, 47, her voice breaking with emotion, spoke at the memorial service for her husband at Manchester Cathedral attended by more than 1,000 VIPs.

She said: "I would like to share with you just a few words my husband said to me in an email written on the Sunday evening before he died. 'I know that I love you, sounds hollow but I do and I'm sorry'."

Mrs Todd, a mother of three, whose 50-year-old husband, the former chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, was found dead on a Welsh mountainside last month, made her first public appearance at the service.

Secrets about her husband's tangled private life have been made public since his death.

Mrs Todd told the congregation: "I want to use this opportunity to thank everyone who sent many cards and letters of support, especially to all who wrote not knowing my address, sending them addressed to, Caroline Todd, Halam, or Mrs Todd, Nottinghamshire. I received them and I am very grateful."

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, former Met Commissioner Lord Stevens, his successor Sir Ian Blair and shadow home secretary David Davis, sat a short distance from Mr Todd's daughter Catherine, 16, twin sons, David and Matthew, 13 and the former police chief's brother Stephen.

The Right Rev Tony Porter, Bishop of Sherwood, brought laughter from the congregation when he told them: "Michael's family loved him to bits but don't you worry they knew he was no saint. The nearest he got to St Michael was when he bought his sandwiches from Marks and Spencer's."

Mr Todd's daughter Catherine gave her own touching personal tribute to her father by singing Somewhere, from West Side Story. Spontaneous applause broke out and the congregation rose to their feet as the song ended.

Hundreds of uniformed senior police officers stood in rows, heads bowed, as eulogies were said for Mr Todd, widely thought of as one of the most popular and successful officers in the country.