TRIBUTES have been paid to a police officer who had died at the age of 48 following a 10-year cancer battle.

Joanne Brown from Appleton served Greater Manchester Police for 17 years before being forced to give up her role as sergeant in 2015 due to illness.

The 48-year-old was first diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2008, having showed symptoms the previous year.

Husband Mark said: “She had a hell of a battle in the last year and this was the third time it had come back, but this time it came back very aggressively.

“We tried a private treatment that did actually get her an extra year and she managed to go to her lifelong best friend’s wedding in October last year, but as with all these treatments the cancer somehow works its way around whatever treatment you throw at it.

“Joanne had been poorly for a long while and she put up the best fight anyone possibly could, but there’s no known cure for brain cancer sadly, even though we tried absolutely everything."

A 'people person with a big personality', Joanne died on Tuesday, July 4, after a brave decade-long battle with cancer.

Hundreds of friends and family are expected at her funeral at St Wilfrid's Church in Grappenhall, where Joanne and Mark were married in 2013.

Dozens of uniformed Greater Manchester Police colleagues and nurses who cared for Joanne at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, at their Appleton home and at St Rocco's Hospice in Bewsey are expected at the service.

Mark added: “It’s been a tough couple of weeks but we’re really going to do her proud.

“Joanne was a part of Greater Manchester Police for 20 years and all of her colleagues and even the chief constable want to come along to the funeral.

"They’re going to town to make sure she gets the full respect and honours from them because Joanne worked very hard for them in the force’s intelligence bureau.

“Over the last year we’ve been making use of a lot of the local district nurses who have been absolutely excellent, and all of them who have been out to Joanne all want to be at the funeral.

“She also spent a week at St Rocco’s Hospice last month and a lot of the team all want to be there.

“Joanne had this effect on people - she was a people person with a big personality.

“Even when she was poorly she had a big smile, and everyone who has ever met her, even when she was at her poorliest, wants to be at the funeral."

The funeral will take place at 12pm on Monday, July 24.

Joanne's family have asked for donations to be made to the Christie Hospital's adult brain tumour fund.