Another house in Middlesbrough was rammed today amid fears of an escalating gang violence outbreak in the town after a girl and her aunt were killed in a house fire.
Valentina Foster, seven, and Natalie McDonald, 34, died in the blaze close to South Bank, where the collision that killed seven people on the A66 took place on Saturday.
Two men, aged 23 and 31, have been arrested on suspicion of murder and remain in custody amid concerns the incident was a revenge attack linked to the road crash.
Today, residents in South Bank woke up to news of another house being rammed by a car as the area continues to be plagued by crime in the aftermath of the smash.
A property on Steele Crescent was attacked – with the front garden wall hit in the early hours of this morning, leaving bricks and a metal fence strewn across the grass.
A neighbour said this morning: ‘It happened at about 12.40am. My daughter saw it. She said a car kept going backwards and forwards into the wall over and over.
‘People on the outside think it’s scary but it doesn’t bother me. I’ve grown up here and it’s normal. There’s always something going on here.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Cleveland Police for a statement on the car ramming.
It comes as balaclava-clad men on motorbikes joined a balloon release in memory of three of the five young men who died in the A66 crash that killed two police officers.
A home on Steele Crescent in the South Bank area of Middlebrough was rammed by a car today
The ramming early this morning left bricks and a metal fence strewn across the grass
The property on Steele Crescent in Middlesbrough is pictured before and after it was attacked
A group gather in Middlesbrough yesterday in memory of three of the five young men who died
Blue smoke from flares filled the air outside the East Middlesbrough Events Centre yesterday
Friends and relatives of three of the men who died congregated to remember them yesterday
Messages remembering the young men spray-painted on East Middlesbrough Events Centre
Community group Active Tees Valley, which operates the venue, has criticised the vandalism
Friends and relatives of Jacob Matusiak, 23, and 17-year-olds Cole Worthy and Theo Rae, congregated on a grassy area in Middlesbrough from 5pm yesterday.
Blue smoke from flares filled the air and children were among those gathered next to the East Middlesbrough Events Centre, previously known as Middlebeck Social Club.
Messages have been spray-painted on the building reading: ‘RIP The Boys’, ‘Never Be Forgotten RIP The Lads’ and the initials of those in the car with ‘Rest easy boys’.
Community group Active Tees Valley (ATV), which operates the venue, has criticised the vandalism, saying that ‘damaging buildings that are being used to support local residents ultimately impacts the same community we are all trying to look after’.
ATV added: ‘We would respectfully ask that community buildings and local facilities are not damaged or spray-painted. These buildings are here for the community.’
It also said: ‘There are other ways we can come together to remember, pay tribute and show our support without damaging facilities that local people rely upon. Please respect our community spaces and the people who work hard to keep them running.’
The three teenagers died along with 23-year-olds Michael Robert Cahill and Jacob Matusiak when their Volkswagen Passat crashed on the A66 in the town on Saturday.
The five young men were pronounced dead at the scene at South Bank after hitting a marked police car, also killing PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38.
Inquests will open at Teesside Magistrates’ Court today for all seven who died – with hearings for the officers in the morning and the five young men in the afternoon.
Valentina Foster, seven, and her aunt Natalie McDonald, 34, died in the house fire yesterday
Firefighters on scene in the Grangetown area of Middlesbrough after the house fire yesterday
Theo Rae (left) and Cole Worthy (right), both 17, were among those who died in the A66 crash
Jakub Matusiak, 23, also died in the A66 crash in South Bank, Middlesbrough, on Saturday
PC Matthew Blades, a father of two, was killed when his police vehicle was struck head-on
PC Tom Clough also died in the crash, ten seconds after a police pursuit had been called off
The VW Passat had been pursued by police following an earlier incident in which a house (pictured) in the Acklam area of Middlesbrough, linked to Worthy, was rammed by a vehicle
Police at the scene of the fatal crash on the A66 in South Bank near Middlesbrough on Saturday
Police have arrested 17 people following the 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.
The pursuit was aborted when the Passat went the wrong way down the A66.
Police have previously said the five men in the Passat may have had links to ‘serious and organised criminal activity’ and four of them have previous convictions.
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.
An online appeal to raise money for the officers’ families passed £1million yesterday.
It comes as detectives continue to question two men, aged 23 and 31, who were arrested on suspicion of murder after the house fire in Grangetown – around a mile from the crash site – on Wednesday morning.
Cleveland Police would not rule out a link between the blaze at an end-of-terrace property in Grangetown and the crash at South Bank.
In addition to the two deaths from the fire, a 48-year-old woman remains in a critical condition at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle. Three other people suffered injuries which are believed to be non life-threatening.
