Colleagues of Constable Richard Gray, the Shropshire police officer shot dead in the line of duty a year ago, are holding a charity soccer match in his memory.

The Ricky Gray Memorial Football Match will be held at Shrewsbury Town’s new Oteley Road stadium on May 2, with his wife Jenny Lee-Gray, as the guest of honour.

It has been organised to mark the first anniversary of Constable Gray’s death and to allow his friends and colleagues across the Shropshire Police Division to pay tribute to an officer they held in the highest esteem.

Kick-off will be at 6.45pm on May 2 and the match will be open to the general public as well as to policing families, with an entrance fee of £5 per family or £2 per individual.

The match is also a fund-raising event for Mrs Lee-Gray’s chosen charities, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and The Royal Star & Garter Homes for disabled ex-servicemen and women.

Among the guests will be officials from both charities, including Falklands War hero Simon Weston OBE, a vice president of Star & Garter.

Constable Gray died on on May 6, 2007, from a gunshot wound while attending a firearms incident in Castlefields, Shrewsbury.

Detective Sergeant Jonathan Matthews, one of the match organisers, said: “We all wanted to be involved in something to remember Ricky by.

“Ricky was a keen sportsman and loved his football.”