Father’s house rammed before son died in A66 crash

A house rammed by a car before the fatal A66 crash in Middlesbrough belonged to the father of a teenager who died in the incident.

Cole Worthy, 17, was one of five young men who died when a Volkswagen Passat travelling in the wrong direction hit a Cleveland Police armed response vehicle, also killing two police officers.

Before the crash at 03:39 BST on Saturday, police had received multiple reports of two cars driving dangerously around the town and a Volvo XC60 was seen ramming properties.

The BBC understands that, after his father’s home was rammed, Worthy and the four others set out in the Passat. Police said they were linking the activities of the Volvo XC60 and the Passat.

There is no suggestion Worthy’s father was involved in criminal activity.

PC Tom Clough, 38, and PC Matthew Blades, 37, died in the crash, as did Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Jacob Matusiak, 23, Makai Saddington, 18, Theo Rae, 17, and Worthy.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct said officers had been pursuing the Passat for almost seven minutes after it was connected to earlier alleged criminal activity, but the pursuit was abandoned 10 seconds before the crash when it turned on to the dual carriageway.

Both vehicles were operating with cloned number plates but were picked up by automated number plate recognition technology.

The rammed house is a red bricked semi-detached that sits in a quiet residential street in Acklam.

The downstairs bay window has been smashed, with bricks scattered beneath it, and an upstairs bedroom window has also been broken.

The BBC understands the car rammed the property in the early hours of Saturday and Cole and the four other young men killed in the crash on the A66 set out in the Passat a short time later.

Neighbours did not want to be identified but one described hearing loud bangs at around two in the morning on Saturday. Another said the street had been full of police all weekend.

Meanwhile, nine men and three women, aged between 18 and 61, were arrested across Teesside on Monday as part of the investigation into the lead-up to the crash. They were held on a range of offences, including possession of a firearm and being part of an organised crime group.

Two men have since been charged, one for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, and one with possession with intent to supply class A and class B drugs and possession of criminal property.

Cleveland Police said on Tuesday that five further arrests had been made, including a 16-year-old boy and two men, 18 and 21, who were held on suspicion of participating in an organised crime group.

A 55-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and a 23-year-old man on suspicion of making threats to kill.

All five remain in custody.

Those previously arrested as part of the investigation are:

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