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A66 crash deaths
Two police officers, Pc Matthew Blades, 37, and Pc Tom Clough, 38, died in a head-on collision on the A66 near Middlesbrough after their marked vehicle was hit by a car going the wrong way down a dual carriageway.
“Pc Matthew Blades, 37, and Pc Tom Clough, 38, died in a head-on collision on the A66 near Middlesbrough”
LBC reported that coroner Paul Appleton said the provisional cause of death was "head and neck injuries" for Pc Blades and "neck injuries" for Pc Clough.
The inquest heard that in the early hours of August 22 there was a collision on the A66 at South Bank between a police vehicle and a Volkswagen Passat, and that it is understood there had been a police pursuit of the Passat.
The BBC and the London Evening Standard described the week around the A66 crash as part of a wider sequence of incidents in the Middlesbrough and South Bank area, with the London Evening Standard saying a vehicle crashed into a wall outside a house in Steele Crescent, South Bank, in the early hours of Thursday.
The London Evening Standard also said a crowd of youths torched at least five cars in a field on Thursday night, about 15 miles from Middlesbrough, and set off fireworks at a balloon release for Michael Cahill, who died in the A66 crash.
Arrests and investigation
Cleveland Police said seven more men were arrested as part of an operation tackling alleged organised crime after the fatal A66 crash, bringing the total number of people arrested since the crash to 24.
The Guardian quoted Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Fox saying, "This latest disruptive activity now brings the total number of arrests to 24 since the investigation commenced."
The Guardian said officers were holding four men, aged 21, 25, 35 and 40, on suspicion of criminal damage with intent to endanger life after a vehicle crashed into a house in Steele Crescent, Middlesbrough, and also questioned them over alleged arson after a caravan was set alight in Atlee Road on Wednesday morning.
The Guardian reported that the three other men arrested were a 23-year-old man on suspicion of threats to kill, a 42-year-old on suspicion of threats to kill and possession of criminal property, and a 30-year-old on suspicion of possession of criminal property, with all three released on conditional bail.
The Guardian added that earlier on Friday detectives confirmed they were not linking a house fire that killed a seven-year-old girl and her aunt to the A66 crash, which left two police officers and five young men dead.
Calls for more help
Teesside MPs called for more help for local police and fire services after a week in which nine people died in two incidents, with the Guardian saying police believed the two fatal incidents may be linked to organised crime.
“gangs and the drugs trade were “clearly featuring””
The Guardian reported that Andy McDonald, the Labour MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, said gangs and the drugs trade were "clearly featuring" in a series of incidents in the area.
The Guardian also quoted McDonald telling BBC Radio 4, "We do suffer those metropolitan levels of crime, and yet comparatively our funding looks much more like a rural area," and said it "simply cannot continue like that."
The Guardian said the prime minister, Andy Burnham, told reporters it was "too early to jump to conclusions" about whether the Grangetown fire and the A66 crash were connected, while adding that the loss of a young woman and her seven-year-old niece was "Utterly devastating."
The Guardian said inquests were formally opened into the deaths of the seven people in the A66 crash, with the Teesside area coroner Paul Appleton telling the hearing: "All occupants of both vehicles were sadly pronounced dead at the scene."