The uncle of one of five men who died in a crash on the A66 after their car hit a police vehicle, killing two officers, was jailed for driving the wrong way on the same road during a police chase.
Aaron Saddington, 23, was sentenced to 20 months in June after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance. He had tried to escape police by speeding towards oncoming traffic on the dual carriageway.
Crash details
In the early hours of Saturday, Saddington's nephew Makai, 18, died alongside four suspected gang members in a VW Passat travelling the wrong way down the same road. The car hit a police vehicle carrying PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, both of whom died.
The five people in the Passat - Cole Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, and 23-year-olds Michael Robert Cahill and Jacob Matusiak - were pronounced dead at the scene at South Bank at around 3.30am on Saturday.
Investigation and arrests
Cleveland Police have said the five young men 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.
Investigators said they 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, a Volkswagen Passat, was believed to be 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 has been traced and recovered in Middlesbrough.
Police said there was no evidence that filming of the activities was "for the purposes of TikTok". Police, working alongside the National Crime Agency, have made a total of 17 arrests following the crash.
Community response
Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Fox said: "This has been a fast-moving and complex investigation, with significant links to serious and organised criminal activity." He added: "We have a duty to respond to, and thoroughly investigate, the serious criminal activity that resulted in this fatal incident, and to bring all those responsible to justice."
Nearly £1,000,000 has been raised for the families of the two police officers who were killed. A fundraiser created by the Cleveland Police Federation said funds raised would be split equally between the officers' families.
Tributes for the five young men were shared on social media, with friends saying they "can't believe it" and were "heartbroken" and "lost for words". Balloon releases have been announced in their memory at different locations.
