Police Officers Killed in A66 Crash Amid Organised Crime Probe
Inquests open into deaths of PCs Matthew Blades and Tom Clough; investigation links fatal collision to wider criminal activity.
Carla Rooney
Two Cleveland Police officers died Saturday when a wrong-way driver struck their vehicle on the A66.
Cole Worthy, Theo Rae, Makai Saddington, Michael Robert Cahill, and Jakub Matusiak occupied the Volkswagen Passat involved in the A66 crash; all occupants of both vehicles were pronounced dead at the scene.
Separate inquest openings are scheduled for the five Passat occupants, aged between 17 and 23; Paul Appleton stated a police pursuit of the Volkswagen Passat had preceded the incident.
Appleton clarified the Passat entered the A66 carriageway against the flow of traffic, at which stage the pursuit was aborted. A short time after the pursuit ended, the Volkswagen Passat collided with a police vehicle not directly involved in the prior chase.
We cannot rule out any links to wider organised crime at this time.
The five youths in the Passat collectively held 37 previous convictions; Michael Robert Cahill was the only one without a criminal record.
Police previously stated the five young men in the Passat may have had links to “serious and organised criminal activity.”
Elsewhere, a seven-year-old girl and her aunt reportedly died in a house fire in Grangetown on Wednesday; two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the Grangetown house fire.
A vehicle crashed into a wall outside a house on Steele Crescent, South Bank, in the early hours of Thursday morning; the house was empty at the time, and no injuries were reported.
Cleveland Police would not rule out a link between the blaze at an end-of-terrace property in Birchington Avenue, Grangetown, and the crash at South Bank on Saturday morning; Cleveland Police stated it has not been confirmed whether there is any link with the latest incident.
Emily Harrison claims it has not yet been confirmed whether this incident is linked to wider organised crime; Cleveland Police also stated, "We cannot rule out any links to wider organised crime at this time."
A fundraising appeal for the officers' families has raised more than £1m; an additional £48,000 was reportedly raised by Pocket Sergeant.
A silent vigil was held at St John The Evangelist Church to pay tribute to the two police officers; seventeen arrests have been made in relation to the crash, as investigations continue.