Gregory Malcolm ASHWORTH
Gregory Malcolm ASHWORTH
NSW Police Academy Class # 223
New South Wales Police Force
Regd. # 23153
Rank: Commenced training at Goulburn Police Academy on 29 September 1986 ( aged 20 years, 3 months, 4 days )
Probationary Constable – appointed19 December 1986
Constable – appointed 7 March 1988 ( lost 3.5 months Seniority )
Final Rank: Constable
Stations: Pennant Hills
Service: From 29 September 1986 to 29 August 1988 = 1+ year Service
Awards: nil
Born: Saturday 25 June 1966
Died on: Monday 29 August 1988
Cause: Motor Vehicle Accident – Urgent Duty – Driver
Event location: Corner of Pennant Hills Rd & Stuart Ave, Pennant Hills
Age: 22 years, 2 months, 4 days
Funeral date: 2 September 1988
Funeral location: ?
Buried at: Macquarie Park Cemetery & Crematorium, Plassey Rd, Macquarie Park, 2113
Grave location: General Lawn, Row 0, Plot 0531
GPS of Grave: -33.789315 151.137817
GREG IS mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance
About 4.20pm on 29 August, 1988 Constable Ashworth and Probationary Constable Currie left the Hornsby Police Station to attend an armed holdup at the West Pennant Hills branch of the National Bank. Whilst travelling along Pennant Hills Road Constable Ashworth swerved to avoid a stationary semi-trailer at the intersection of Stuart Avenue and collided with a median strip, causing the police vehicle to overturn onto the incorrect side of the roadway and hit an oncoming vehicle. As a result Constable Ashworth sustained severe head and internal injuries and although quickly attended to by Constable Currie, he died a short time later.
The constable was born in 1966 and joined the New South Wales Police Force on 29 September, 1986. At the time of his death he was stationed at Pennant Hills.
Event location: [codepeople-post-map]
The Holdup alarm, mentioned above, was a ‘false alarm‘.
Greg was aspiring to join the Pennant Hills Police Rescue Squad and, had he not died so early in his career, he was on his way to being nicknames ‘Bluey’ – no doubt a reference to him having red hair.
The accident happened on an uphill left hand curve near the Thornleigh tip.
As was the custom of the day, the vehicle was returned to the police station and was placed outside of the Meal Room at Hornsby Police Station where it was visible through the meal room window – awaiting Mechanical examination, and was visibly stained with blood.
Death Notice was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 31 August 1988.
