A suspected feud between rival criminal groups, properties allegedly being rammed by a Volvo and a police pursuit are emerging as key elements in the sequence of events that preceded the wrong-way A66 collision which killed seven people, including two police officers.
Cleveland Police has launched a wide-ranging investigation into what it describes as criminality with “significant links to serious and organised criminal activity” before the fatal collision in South Bank, near Middlesbrough, during the early hours of Saturday, 22 August.
Five further arrests have now taken the total number of people detained to 17 as detectives attempt to establish exactly what happened before a Volkswagen Passat entered the A66 in the wrong direction and collided head-on with a marked police armed response vehicle.
PC Tom Clough, 38, and PC Matthew Blades, 37, died alongside the five occupants of the Passat: Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Jacob Matusiak, 23, Makai Saddington, 18, Theo Rae, 17, and Cole Robert Worthy, 17.
The developing investigation indicates the events that ultimately ended on the A66 began considerably earlier.
Properties Allegedly Rammed By Volvo
Cleveland Police said it received several reports during the early hours of Saturday concerning two vehicles being driven dangerously around Middlesbrough.
The first was believed to be a Volvo XC60.
Police said the Volvo was witnessed “ramming properties” in the Middlesbrough area.
The second vehicle was the Volkswagen Passat which would later be involved in the fatal collision. Investigators believe it was associated with the activities of the Volvo.
Both vehicles were allegedly operating on cloned number plates in an attempt to avoid detection.
Despite the cloned registrations, Cleveland Police said its automatic number plate recognition technology detected the vehicles.
The Volvo involved in the initial incidents has subsequently been located and recovered in Middlesbrough as evidence in the criminal investigation.
Attack On Home Reportedly Sparked Pursuit Of Rival Group
Further details reported since the crash suggest the activity may have been connected to a dispute between rival criminal groups operating around Teesside.
One of the properties allegedly targeted by the Volvo belonged to the father of Cole Worthy.
At approximately 3am, the Volvo is reported to have deliberately reversed into the front of the property twice, causing extensive damage.
Neighbours described being woken by two loud impacts before the vehicle disappeared.
Reports citing sources familiar with the circumstances claim Worthy and four others subsequently travelled in the Passat looking for those responsible for the attack.
That would place Michael Robert Cahill, Jacob Matusiak, Makai Saddington, Theo Rae and Worthy together in the Passat before police encountered it.
It has been claimed that the occupants of the Volvo and Passat were associated with opposing groups and that the events formed part of a continuing feud involving organised criminal activity in Teesside.
Cleveland Police has not publicly confirmed that the Passat was specifically pursuing the Volvo or that revenge for the property attack was the motive for its movements.
The force has, however, confirmed that both vehicles are linked to its investigation and that the case has significant connections to serious and organised crime.
There is no suggestion that Worthy’s father was involved in criminal activity.
Police Encounter Passat
After the earlier incidents, police located the Passat.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct says Cleveland Police had received reports linking the vehicle to “numerous incidents”.
Officers began pursuing it, with the pursuit lasting almost seven minutes.
CCTV reportedly captured the Passat travelling at high speed along Lime Road in Teesville shortly before the collision.
The Passat eventually reached the A66 and entered the dual carriageway travelling against the direction of traffic.
At that point, the officers pursuing it stopped.
The IOPC says the pursuit was abandoned approximately 10 seconds before the fatal collision.
Armed Officers Were Not Part Of Pursuit
PC Clough and PC Blades were travelling along the A66 in a marked Cleveland Police armed response vehicle in the correct direction.
Crucially, they were not the officers pursuing the Passat.
According to the IOPC, the two armed officers were in the area to assist with the search for the vehicle.
At approximately 3.39am, the wrong-way Passat collided head-on with their police vehicle.
PC Clough, PC Blades and all five people inside the Passat were pronounced dead at the scene.
The crash brought to an end a sequence of events stretching from the alleged attacks on properties in Middlesbrough, through the movements of the Volvo and Passat, to the police pursuit and the Passat entering the A66 against traffic.
17 Arrested In Wider Criminal Investigation
Police are now investigating not only the collision but the alleged criminal activity which preceded it.
Twelve people — nine men and three women aged between 19 and 61 — were initially arrested across Teesside on suspicion of offences ranging from possession of a firearm to participating in the activities of an organised crime group.
Five further arrests have now been made.
A 16-year-old boy, an 18-year-old man and a 21-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of participating in the activities of an organised crime group.
A 55-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, while a 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of making threats to kill.
All five remained in custody following their arrests, while two men detained during the wider investigation have since been charged.
The IOPC is separately investigating the police contact before the crash, including the pursuit and the circumstances in which it was abandoned shortly before the Passat struck the armed response vehicle.