A rival gang rammed the home belonging to the mother of one of five youths who died in the A66 crash moments before the collision which killed seven people, it is understood.
The woman’s Audi, which was parked on the driveway, was shoved into the front of her house in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Her son Theo Rae, 17, was one of five occupants of a VW Passat which travelled the wrong way down a dual carriageway and hit a marked police vehicle, killing them all as well as PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38.
Rae had reportedly been stalking the streets of Middlesborough in the Passat searching for the rival gang responsible for the attack on his mother’s home.
He was joined in the car by Cole Worthy, 17, Michael Cahill, 23, Jakub Matusiak, 23, and Makai Saddington, 18, as they sought revenge.
They were soon spotted by marked police cars, which immediately began chasing the youths. The pursuit lasted seven minutes before the Passat entered the A66 on the wrong side of the road and hit the marked police car head on.
Three properties linked to the gang were targeted by rivals in a Volvo XC60 in the early hours of Saturday morning, it is understood.
But it was the attack on Rae’s mother’s house – as well as an alleged attack on his grandmother’s property – that angered him and his friends the most, sources told The Sun.
Close friends Theo Rae (left) and Cole Worthy died in the crash on Saturday
PC Matthew Blades, a father of two, was killed when his police vehicle was struck head-on by a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way down the A66 near Middlesbrough
PC Tom Clough also died in the crash, which occurred around ten seconds after a police pursuit of the Volkswagen was called off
Inquests into the policemen’s deaths were opened and adjourned at Teesside Coroner’s Court yesterday. In short, consecutive hearings, coroner Paul Appleton said PC Blades was identified by his wife, and PC Clough by his partner.
The provisional cause of death was said to be head and neck injuries for PC Blades, and neck injuries for PC Clough.
An MP today condemned the violence gripping Middlesbrough in the wake of the fatal crash – with residents left ‘trapped in their homes’ after nine deaths and 19 arrests in a week.
More than 200 extra officers from across the UK have been deployed to help Cleveland Police after an outbreak of gang violence following the collision.
Police have arrested 17 people aged between 18 and 61 across Teesside, who were detained on a range of offences – including being part of an organised crime group.
Another two men, aged 31 and 23, have been arrested on suspicion of murder after seven-year-old Valentina Foster and her aunt Natalie McDonald, 34, were killed on Wednesday in a house fire in Grangetown, around one mile from the A66 crash.
A house in South Bank was also rammed into by a car in the early hours of yesterday morning, again close to the other scenes – although the property was empty.
Police are urgently investigating whether the incidents could be linked to wider organised crime but have not yet established whether they are all connected.
Several other ram attacks have been carried out in Middlesbrough – including against the father of one of the young men who died on the A66 just hours before the crash.
Makai Saddington, one of the five killed in the Volkswagen, posted videos on TikTok of him being chased by police and was awaiting trial for racially abusing and assaulting officers
Michael Robert Cahill was one of the five in the VW Passat
It comes as at least 12 armed police swooped on a residential street about five miles away last night, shouting for the occupants of a house to come to the front door.
The incident lasted around an hour in Thornaby, North Yorkshire, while Cleveland Police officers along with others from nearby forces surrounded front and back.
Armed response officers had been called at 9.15pm after reports of a fight involving a weapon, which saw a 25-year-old man taken to hospital with facial fractures.
Four people were arrested on suspicion of affray – a boy aged 17, two men aged 39 and 43 and a woman aged 30. The men were also arrested on suspicion of wounding.
Several occupants of the house were brought out one by one, although the force later said there is ‘not believed to be any link to wider criminality at this time’.
Also this morning, a 21-year-old man arrested over the investigation into events leading up to the fatal collision on Saturday was charged with a drugs offence.
Local residents are fearful for their safety. Andy McDonald, the MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, told Times Radio: ‘People are saying that they are going to their shops and not feeling safe to do so and feeling trapped in their own homes.
‘That is just unacceptable. This is terrorism and we’ve got to have an appropriate response to deal with the people who are causing such mayhem in our communities and to allow people to lead their peaceful lives.’
