Several cars have been set alight during a gathering for one of the five young men killed in the A66 crash, as more than 200 additional police officers are drafted into Teesside following days of violence and suspected organised criminal activity.
Footage circulating on social media from Thursday night’s gathering for 23-year-old Michael Robert Cahill showed dozens of people congregating in a field near Peterlee, County Durham, around 15 miles from Middlesbrough.
Vehicles could be seen being driven around the field, with motorbikes revving and car horns sounding as fireworks and blue smoke flares were discharged.
Several vehicles were subsequently set on fire.
Footage taken after the gathering showed burnt-out vehicle shells remaining on the scorched field, while balloons spelling out “Michael” had earlier been released into the sky.
Posts accompanying footage of the gathering paid tribute to Cahill, who was also known as Micky.
Reports said horses in the field were frightened by the disturbance, with footage later showing efforts to clear the area using farm machinery.
Gathering Held For Michael Cahill
Cahill’s mother had earlier posted on social media calling for people with bikes, cars, Jeeps and quad bikes to attend a balloon release for her son.
Cahill was one of five occupants of a Volkswagen Passat killed when it travelled the wrong way along the A66 at South Bank and collided head-on with a marked Cleveland Police armed response vehicle at around 3.39am on Saturday.
The other four occupants were Jacob Matusiak, 23, Makai Saddington, 18, Theo Rae, 17, and Cole Robert Worthy, 17.
PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, who were travelling in the police vehicle, were also killed.
The officers were not involved in the pursuit immediately before the collision. They had been in the area assisting in the search for the Passat.
More Than 200 Additional Police Officers Sent To Area
The latest scenes come as Cleveland Police receives significant reinforcements following an extraordinary succession of incidents across Teesside.
More than 200 additional officers have been or are due to be deployed from other forces to support policing in the area.
The reinforcements are understood to include personnel across several policing functions, from detectives to armed response.
Cleveland Police is one of England and Wales’s smaller territorial forces, and officers have been dealing simultaneously with the aftermath of the deaths of two colleagues, a major organised-crime investigation and several serious incidents across Middlesbrough and surrounding communities.
Alec Brown, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said officers had been working extremely long shifts and confirmed more than 200 additional officers were being brought into the area.
He said he would also seek further government support.
Residents Report Feeling Unsafe
Middlesbrough and Thornaby East MP Andy McDonald said residents had told him they no longer felt safe carrying out everyday activities.
“People are saying that they are going to their shops and not feeling safe to do so and feeling trapped in their own homes,” he said.
McDonald described the situation as unacceptable and called for an appropriate response to those responsible for the violence.
He has also said there appeared to be a “causal link with organised crime”.
Redcar MP Anna Turley said she understood the level of concern among residents and confirmed additional officers and resources were being brought into the area, with agencies working around the clock.
“People have a right to feel safe in their homes and in their communities,” she said.
What Happened Before The A66 Crash?
The scale of the police response reflects how dramatically the investigation into Saturday’s crash has expanded.
Cleveland Police says that before the collision it received reports of two vehicles being driven dangerously.
One, believed to have been a Volvo XC60, was allegedly being used to ram properties in Middlesbrough.
The second was the Volkswagen Passat subsequently involved in the fatal collision.
Police believe the Passat was associated with the activities of the Volvo.
Both vehicles were allegedly operating with cloned registration plates but were detected by automatic number plate recognition technology.
The Volvo has since been recovered.
Reports have alleged that one property targeted before the collision was the home of the father of Cole Worthy and that the Passat’s occupants subsequently went looking for those responsible.
Police have not publicly confirmed the full alleged revenge narrative.
What Cleveland Police has confirmed is that its investigation into the criminality preceding the collision has identified “significant links to serious and organised criminal activity”.
17 Arrested In Wider Investigation
Seventeen people have now been arrested during the wider investigation.
The suspected offences under investigation include participation in the activities of an organised crime group, firearms offences, drugs offences, assisting an offender and making threats to kill.
Police have been supported by other forces and specialist agencies as investigators attempt to establish precisely what happened before the Passat was pursued.
Officers pursued the vehicle for almost seven minutes before it entered the A66 travelling against the flow of traffic.
The pursuit was abandoned.
Approximately 10 seconds later, the Passat struck the armed response vehicle carrying PCs Blades and Clough head-on.
Seven-Year-Old Girl And Her Aunt Killed In House Fire
The situation escalated further on Wednesday when seven-year-old Valentina Foster and her aunt, 34-year-old Natalie McDonald, died in a house fire on Birchington Avenue in Grangetown.
Another woman was critically injured and three other people suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Police launched a murder investigation and arrested two men, aged 31 and 23, on suspicion of murder.
Cleveland Police said investigators were keeping an open mind and could not rule out links to wider organised crime.
However, no such connection has yet been established.
Natalie’s family has strongly stressed that she was not involved in gangs and had nothing to do with the events surrounding the A66.
Her brother Josh Kirton described the deaths as “senseless”.
Another Property Rammed
Hours after the fatal fire, another property was targeted in South Bank.
Police received reports shortly after 12.30am on Thursday that a vehicle had crashed into a wall outside a home.
Witnesses described a vehicle repeatedly driving backwards and forwards into the wall.
The property was empty and no injuries were reported.
Police said it had not been established whether the latest ramming was connected to wider organised crime.
The incident nevertheless drew particular attention because properties had also allegedly been rammed in the hours before Saturday’s fatal A66 collision.
Man Attacked With Bladed Weapon
Another major police response followed later on Thursday when a 39-year-old man was attacked with a bladed weapon at an address on Sedgemoor Road in Eston.
Armed officers attended and an air ambulance landed nearby before the injured man was taken for treatment.
Residents described seeing a significant armed police presence around a property.
No connection between the Eston attack and the A66 investigation has been established.
Police Presence Intensifies Across Teesside
The combination of incidents has prompted increasingly visible policing across affected communities.
Former Middlesbrough mayor Andy Preston has described the town as being “on its knees” and warned about the potential consequences of continuing criminal feuds.
The language being used publicly reflects the level of anxiety across parts of Teesside, but investigators have repeatedly cautioned against assuming that every incident is connected.
What has been established is that police believe serious and organised criminal activity preceded the A66 crash and that a substantial investigation is now underway into those events.
The subsequent Grangetown fire remains the subject of a murder investigation, with police yet to determine publicly whether it forms part of the same wider criminal activity.
Investigations are also continuing into the latest property ramming and the separate bladed-weapon attack in Eston as more than 200 additional officers support the policing operation across the area.