A vehicle crashed into a wall outside a house near Middlesbrough, minutes away from the scenes of two fatal incidents in less than a week. Police are investigating the damage at a property on Steele Crescent, South Bank, in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The house is close to the locations of a crash on the A66 which killed seven people on Saturday, and a house fire in Grangetown on Wednesday, where a seven-year-old girl and her aunt died. Cleveland Police said it has not been confirmed whether there is any link with the latest incident.
Investigation underway
Officers were called to the house after 12.30am on Thursday. Local policing Superintendent Emily Harrison said: “The property was empty at the time and we have not currently received any reports of any injuries.”
“Officers are conducting inquiries to establish the circumstances surrounding this incident. Our investigation is in its early stages and it has not yet been confirmed whether this incident is linked to wider organised crime.”
Inquests into A66 deaths
On Thursday morning inquests were opened into the deaths of two police officers who were killed when their marked vehicle was hit by a car going the wrong way down the A66. Pc Matthew Blades, 37, and Pc Tom Clough, 38, died in a head-on collision with a Volkswagen Passat on Saturday.
Teesside Coroners’ Court heard that “all occupants of both vehicles were sadly pronounced dead at the scene”. In short, consecutive hearings, coroner Paul Appleton said Pc Blades was identified by his wife, and Pc Clough by his partner. The provisional cause of death was said to be head and neck injuries for Pc Blades, and neck injuries for Pc Clough.
Mr Appleton said: “At this stage it is understood that there had been a police pursuit of the Volkswagen Passat. It entered the A66 carriageway against the flow of traffic, at which stage the pursuit was aborted. A short time after… the Volkswagen Passat collided with a police vehicle, which had not been directly involved in the prior pursuit.”
In the afternoon, inquests were opened into the deaths of the occupants of the Volkswagen Passat – Cole Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, and 23-year-olds Michael Robert Cahill and Jakub Matusiak, named by police as Jacob. In separate hearings, Mr Appleton said that the young men were identified through fingerprint analysis. The causes of death were said to be neck injuries for Mr Matusiak, head and torso injuries for Mr Cahill, head injuries for Mr Saddington and Mr Rae, and head and chest injuries for Mr Worthy.
House fire inquiry
The hearings come as detectives continue to question two men who were arrested on suspicion of murder after a house fire in Grangetown, around a mile from the crash site, killed two people, including a child, on Wednesday morning. Cleveland Police would not rule out a link between the blaze at an end-of-terrace property in Birchington Avenue, Grangetown, near Middlesbrough, and the crash at South Bank on Saturday morning.
Seven-year-old Valentina Foster and her aunt Natalie McDonald, 34, died following the blaze, according to reports. Tributes have been left outside the house, with a photo of the pair left among the bouquets and toys with the words: “RIP Natalie and Valentina you will be missed.” A Care Bear toy was left, along with a teddy bear and a note which said: “Now she dances with butterflies Valentina.” Another message said: “Valentina what a lovely young girl, so sad, RIP.”
Birchington Avenue has reopened but a strong police presence remained outside the home which was ripped apart by the fire. Andy Burnham said the Government is offering “all of the support that the authorities need” after the “terribly tragic” house fire. Asked about the incidents, the Prime Minister told reporters during a visit to South Wales: “Obviously we’re offering all of the support that the authorities need. The important thing, it’s a terribly tragic event that’s happened with the loss of a young woman and her seven-year-old niece.”
He continued: “Utterly devastating, and I’m sure there’s a whole community that is grieving, not just what happened at the weekend, and particularly we should stress our deepest respect for the police officers lost in the line of duty and sending our sympathies to their families. And we will obviously make sure that the support is there for them going forward. The only thing I can say this morning is there is an investigation under way. It will be the fullest possible investigation. The authorities will have all of the support that they need. We do need to understand the extent to which they may be connected, but they may not be. So I think it’s too early to jump to conclusions. But what we can say at this point in time is that all of the support will be provided to get to the heart of what has happened here.”
Police have arrested 17 people following the A66 crash, charging two of them and bailing the others, as part of investigations into alleged organised crime. The Passat had been pursued by police following an earlier incident in which a house in the Acklam area of Middlesbrough, linked to Worthy, was rammed by a vehicle. Police have previously said the five young men in the Passat may have had links to “serious and organised criminal activity” and four of them have previous convictions.
Former Middlesbrough mayor Andy Preston said the string of incidents in the area was “heartbreaking to see – not just the loss of life, but the further scarring of once proud communities”. He said: “More incidents are happening and it looks like they’re related. Everyone’s praying that this peters out. If it doesn’t, more innocent lives could be at risk.”
