A series of alleged gangland attacks on homes, including the property of the mother of 17-year-old A66 crash victim Theo Rae, has emerged as a crucial part of the events that unfolded before the fatal collision in Middlesbrough.
The silver Audi belonging to Rae’s mother was reportedly parked on the driveway when a Volvo XC60 was used to ram it into the front of the three-storey property in the early hours of Saturday, August 22.
The attack was one of three properties allegedly targeted by rivals that morning. The homes are understood to have been connected to the families of people later killed in the A66 crash.
According to sources cited by The Sun, the attack on Rae’s family was particularly inflammatory and helped trigger the sequence of events that ended with seven people dead.
However, police investigations into the circumstances surrounding the crash are continuing, and claims about the precise motivation for the attacks have not been established as fact.
Three properties allegedly targeted before the crash
Rae’s mother’s home was not the only property targeted.
The home of Cole Worthy’s father was also rammed. Police had received multiple reports of vehicles being driven dangerously around Middlesbrough before the crash, and a Volvo XC60 was reportedly seen striking properties.
ITV News reported that Worthy’s father lived at one of the properties damaged in the attacks and that there was no evidence suggesting he was involved in criminal activity. (ITVX)
Rae’s grandmother’s home was also believed to have been targeted.
A source quoted by The Sun claimed the attack on Worthy’s father’s house initially attracted little attention because the property was empty, but that the alleged attacks on Rae’s home and his grandmother’s property provoked a much stronger reaction.
“There was a large police presence at the property,” the source said, adding that Rae and the others were already in the Volkswagen Passat looking for those believed to be responsible.
Police have not publicly confirmed every detail of the alleged retaliation sequence.
They were spotted by marked police cars who immediately gave chase.
Five men set out in the Passat
Rae and Worthy were travelling in a Volkswagen Passat with Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Jakub Matusiak, 23, and Makai Saddington, 18.
The group was reportedly looking for people believed to be responsible for the earlier attacks.
The events quickly escalated.
Marked police vehicles spotted the Passat and a pursuit began through the streets of Middlesbrough. According to the account reported by The Sun, the chase continued for around seven minutes before the Passat entered the A66 travelling in the wrong direction.
The pursuing officers then abandoned the chase.
Around 10 seconds later, the Passat collided head-on with a marked armed-response police vehicle.
The five occupants of the Passat were killed, along with the two officers inside the police vehicle: PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38.
Cleveland Police has described the investigation into the circumstances preceding the collision as involving criminality with significant links to serious and organised crime. (BPI News)
The five men killed in the Passat were identified as Theo Rae, 17, Cole Robert Worthy, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, Michael Robert Cahill, 23, and Jakub Matusiak, 23. (ITVX)
A feud that had been building for months
The fatal crash has brought renewed attention to a wider pattern of alleged tit-for-tat violence across Middlesbrough.
Homes have reportedly been targeted with vehicles, while police have also dealt with incidents involving suspected organised crime, firearms, drugs and other serious offences.
The violence is believed to have involved rival groups and disputes surrounding drugs, money and longstanding grievances.
More than 200 specialist officers have been brought into the area as authorities attempt to restore order and reassure residents. Police have made 17 arrests in connection with the wider investigation, with people detained over allegations including involvement in organised crime, firearms and drug offences. (The Times)
Residents in areas including South Bank, Eston, Pallister Park and Grangetown have been left increasingly concerned about the escalation.
Local communities have also seen a series of other violent incidents in the days following the A66 crash.
Cars torched at Michael Cahill memorial
The aftermath of the crash has included highly controversial tributes to some of those who died.
At a memorial for Michael Cahill, five cars were reportedly set alight in a field. Vehicles were driven around the area, churning up the ground before being abandoned or burned.
Cahill’s mother had previously encouraged people to attend the memorial with “bikes, jeeps, cars and quads” to give her son the send-off she believed he deserved.
The scenes followed another memorial for Jakub Matusiak, where a crowd of around 200 people gathered, lighting flares and riding off-road bikes.
The displays have drawn criticism, particularly because they stood in stark contrast to the quieter tributes paid to PCs Blades and Clough.
PC Blades, 37, was a former teacher, while PC Clough, 38, had previously served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fatal house fire adds to the turmoil
The violence in Middlesbrough took another devastating turn on Wednesday, August 26, when a house fire in Grangetown killed seven-year-old Valentina Foster and her aunt, Natalie McDonald, 34.
The fire happened around a mile from the site of the A66 crash and initially raised fears that it could be connected to the wider gang conflict.
Two men, aged 23 and 31, were arrested on suspicion of murder and remained in custody as the investigation continued. (The Guardian)
Police initially said they were keeping an open mind about possible links to organised crime.
However, Cleveland Police later clarified that detectives were not linking the house fire to the fatal A66 collision.
Assistant Chief Constable Dave Sutherland said officers and staff had been working around the clock following the deaths on the A66 and the subsequent fatal fire, but confirmed that the two incidents were not currently being linked.
Valentina’s family has also stressed that Natalie was not involved with gangs or the A66 crash. Natalie’s brother Josh Kirton said his sister had nothing to do with either, describing the deaths as senseless. (The Independent)
More violence follows
The unrest has continued beyond the original crash and fire.
A separate property in Steele Crescent, South Bank, was damaged after a vehicle was reportedly driven into a wall at around 12.30am on Thursday.
Cleveland Police said the property was empty and that no injuries had been reported. Officers were investigating the circumstances and had not confirmed any connection between that incident and the A66 crash or the house fire. (The Independent)
A stabbing was also reported in Eston, with armed officers attending the scene.
The series of incidents has left residents fearful as police attempt to contain what authorities describe as a wider problem involving serious and organised crime.
Investigation continues
The A66 collision has therefore become part of a much broader investigation into a rapidly escalating wave of violence across Middlesbrough and surrounding areas.
What began with reports of dangerous driving and vehicles being used to ram properties culminated in a police pursuit, a wrong-way collision and the deaths of seven people.
But investigators are still working to establish precisely how the individual events were connected.
While police have identified significant links to serious and organised criminality in the events surrounding the crash, other incidents occurring during the same week — including the fatal house fire — have not been definitively connected to it.
For residents, however, the impact has been immediate: damaged homes, burned-out vehicles, heightened police activity and the loss of nine lives across two separate tragedies in a matter of days.
Authorities have now brought in hundreds of additional officers as they work to restore calm and establish exactly what happened before, during and after the fatal A66 collision. (The Guardian)
