Cleveland Police have arrested 17 people following a fatal crash between a VW Passat and a marked armed response vehicle on the A66 near Middlesbrough, which left seven dead. The incident occurred on Saturday morning when the Passat, travelling in the wrong direction on the dual-carriageway, collided head-on with the police vehicle.
The officers killed were Pc Matthew Blades, 37, and Pc Tom Clough, 38. The five occupants of the Passat—Cole Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, and 23-year-olds Michael Robert Cahill and Jacob Matusiak—were pronounced dead at the scene in South Bank.
Community plea over graffiti tributes
Tees Valley Active has urged people not to graffiti buildings with tributes to the young men who died. The plea came after messages were daubed on the East Middlesbrough Events Centre, including “RIP The Boys”, “Never be Forgotten RIP The Lads”, and the initials of those in the Passat with “Rest easy boys”.
In a Facebook post, the group said: “We understand that people want to express their emotions and pay their respects, but damaging buildings that are being used to support local residents ultimately impacts the same community we are all trying to look after.” They added: “There are other ways we can come together to remember, pay tribute and show our support without damaging facilities that local people rely upon.” The post also asked about a company that could clean off the graffiti.
Fundraisers pass £1 million
Meanwhile, two online fundraisers for the police officers have broken the £1 million barrier. A GoFundMe page organised by the Cleveland Police Federation reached more than £959,000 by Wednesday morning, while another GoFundMe page for them had reached over £45,000.
Inquests were due to open on Thursday morning for the two officers, with hearings for the young men in the Passat scheduled for the afternoon at Teesside Magistrates’ Court.
Investigation details and background
Police have previously said that the five young men in the Passat may have had links to “serious and organised criminal activity”. Four of the five had previous criminal convictions and were believed to be associated with another car seen ramming properties earlier that morning.
On the morning of the collision, police received several reports of two vehicles being driven dangerously. The first, believed to be a Volvo XC60, was witnessed ramming properties in the Middlesbrough area. The second, the Volkswagen Passat, is believed to have been associated with the Volvo’s activities. Both vehicles were operating with cloned number plates but were picked up by automated number plate recognition technology. The Volvo XC60 has since been traced and recovered in Middlesbrough.
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. The pursuit was aborted when the Passat went the wrong way down the A66.
Family tributes and prime minister’s response
Pc Blades and Pc Clough were not involved in the original pursuit but had been called to the area to assist with the search for the Passat. Family members described former Civil Nuclear Constabulary officer Pc Clough as “our hero” who was “always on public duty”. In a statement issued by Cleveland Police, Pc Blades’ wife called him “my beloved husband, my best friend, and the most devoted father to our two young boys”.
Police said there was no evidence that filming of the activities on Friday night and Saturday morning was “for the purposes of TikTok”. Saddington was reported to have previously shared clips of dangerous driving.
Speaking to Channel 5 News, Prime Minister Andy Burnham was asked if there is anything the Government can do to crack down on the “growing problem online of the police being goaded and provoked”. He said: “There’s always something we can do and the glorification of dangerous driving is an appalling trend, and it needs to be challenged, and that means everybody playing their part to stop it, including the tech companies.” Pressed on whether he would ask tech companies to take down such content, he added: “I’m waiting for a full investigation into what happened at the weekend, but people can be sure that we’ll take action off all of the issues that are coming out.”
