Marland Yarde, who played for Sale Sharks, saw his life ruined by a woman’s false accusations

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An ex-Sale Sharks star whose life was ‘ruined’ by a woman who made false allegations against him has spoken of his complete career turn.

Marland Yarde, who played rugby union for England and Sale Sharks, was the victim of a vicious campaign by Sandra Ntonya that left his career in tatters.

Ntonya, from Gorton, first met Yarde on a night out in Manchester shortly after he had left his girlfriend. However, she ended up ringing police and falsely accusing him of raping another woman – which saw him arrested and the centre of a police investigation for five months until prosecutors decided to bring no charges.

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Ntonya ended up arrested herself and convicted of stalking Yarde at Manchester Crown Court in February 2025. She was called an ‘attention-seeking narcissist’ whose behaviour towards Yarde was ‘highly abusive and damaging’ and was eventually jailed in April 2025 for breaching a restraining order against him.

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Now, Yarde has spoken about how he has rebuilt his life overseas following the ordeal that effectively derailed his rugby career. The 33-year-old has taken a dramatically different path since walking away from professional rugby, trading the pitch for the classroom as he works towards obtaining his commercial pilot’s licence in Portugal.

Despite his innocence, the ordeal took a profound toll on Yarde, who played for England 13 times. It left him unable to play rugby for a considerable period and feeling as though his life had been placed on hold indefinitely, WalesOnline reports. At Ntonya’s sentencing, the court heard the impact was ‘profound’ on the player, saying that following the allegations his contract was terminated and his mental health suffered.

‘It was very, very tough’

And speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast, Yarde opened up about the harrowing experience and its lasting impact.

“It was very, very tough. I obviously knew within myself that I had never done anything wrong, but as an athlete and especially someone who’s basically within the media, you can’t really say anything.

“It lasted a lot longer than I thought it was going to happen. I spent six months just in the dark, it’s almost like I was guilty just via association because there never was a charge, there was nothing.

“I just wanted my life to be back to normal, that was really hard to take. Once something like this happens, say you lose your family, lose your job, lose your income, your character is destroyed – there’s so many different foundations of stuff that just evaporates.

“Everything that I had, your security, your job, where I was living, everything else was just completely eradicated. You still feel in prison in your life.”

Yarde explained that the prolonged uncertainty was particularly gruelling, as he repeatedly believed he was on the verge of returning to the sport he loved, only to watch those prospects vanish at the last moment.

“When you lose everything at once, it’s really quite a dark thing,” Yarde added. “There was light at the end of the tunnel because it was done and I was thinking I can back into [rugby] and play at that level, and I speak to a few coaches from different clubs and we’re good, and then it gets blocked in the last second.

“That went on for about six months, and that for me was the hardest part, because I was like even though I am free, I am not really free, because I’m still locked in jail in my own life, and everything else that I had built for so many years.”

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Yarde ultimately secured a transfer to Bayonne in France’s Top 14. The relocation offered him a chance to rebuild away from the surroundings where his career had fallen apart and, with some distance from those events, he started to see the experience through a different lens.

“Over that period of time, it was just very, very difficult,” he added. “All I wanted at that stage was just to get back into my game. I wanted to be with my family and I just wanted all this to be like a whole little nightmare.

“But I feel like this allowed me to grow. I obviously needed to hit the the bottom to really appreciate everything that I have in life. I was truly blessed to do what I did and the whole experience and going abroad and playing…. that was one of the best moves I ever did, I absolutely loved it there.

“I wanted to take my life into my own hands and grow as a person, and it made me a better person. It made me appreciate things, protecting your peace, protecting people around you and you start to learn the people who are really there for you.”

Yarde’s new career

These days, instead of trying to resurrect his rugby career, Yarde is gearing up for life in a completely different field.

He has relocated to Portugal and begun an intensive commercial pilot training programme, something he reveals had captivated him for years.

“I’m living abroad currently,” he said. “I managed to take up a commercial pilot course in Portugal and it’s been a revelation to be honest. It’s something I’ve always been intrigued about wanting to do, so I just took a decision.

“Having a child as well, you start to think a little bit more in the future, so it was uh important. But it’s a lot of hard work and definitely not an easy thing to do.

“I’m doing the integrated ATPR course, it takes roughly two to three years,” Yarde continued. “I’m at the back end of it now. You have to do around 800 hours of classroom, so it’s basically going back to class with people of all different ages from all different parts of the world. You meet some interesting people.

“We do about 26 exams in total and you have a time constraint of 18 months for completing those exams, so it’s quite intense. You’re going to class for probably about eight hours a day, Monday to Friday, and then having to study on top of that.”

For somebody whose entire adult life had centred around professional sport, returning to the world of education has posed a significant challenge.

Yet Yarde maintains that encountering individuals from diverse backgrounds and nations has also formed a major part of the attraction.

Reflecting on his life there, he said: “It’s very nice. I’ve actually moved a little bit towards the middle now, where the aerodrome is, but I did the ground [school] in a place called Cascais, which is a beautiful part of Portugal.”

For Yarde, the relocation signifies considerably more than merely securing another profession following rugby. His playing career concluded in a manner he could hardly have envisioned when he initially emerged onto the professional stage with London Irish, but the former England wing now seems to have discovered a new path forward.

From early-season heavyweight clashes to conference rivalry games, the road to the College Football Playoff could come down to a handful of marquee matchups. Here are six must-watch games that could shape the playoff race in 2026:

Ohio State at Texas, Sept. 12

Steve Sarkisian and Ryan Day match wits again as both teams get an early-season measuring stick game after failing to meet expectations in 2025. A Week 1 loss to the Buckeyes left the Longhorns fighting an uphill battle with little room for error throughout the rest of the season. Texas ultimately fell short of the 12-team CFP while the Buckeyes lost their last two games, the latter in the CFP quarterfinals.

Julian Sayin vs. Arch Manning will get the headlines but last year’s 14-7 win by Ohio State is a reminder that the best-prepared defense may rule the day. The Buckeyes are reloading on defense — including three spots on the line — while Texas has four of its starting o-linemen back.

Both teams have stacked schedules — Texas faces the likes of Tennessee, Ole Miss, LSU and Texas A&M and Ohio State has Indiana, Oregon, USC and Michigan — so a win here helps set the tone.

LSU at Ole Miss, Sept. 19

One of the most intriguing games of the year, an emotionally charged revenge game on paper for Ole Miss, as Lane Kiffin returns to Oxford for the first time since his awkward departure for LSU last December. Trinidad Chambliss is a Heisman contender again for the Rebels. Will Leavitt says he couldn’t be happier after transferring in for the Tigers.

Besides the obvious tension, the matchup could help shape the playoff race early. As contenders but not necessarily favorites in the SEC, Ole Miss and LSU could find themselves fighting for an at-large bid. A win here could make all the difference come playoff selection time, especially with both teams facing schedules that leave little room for error.

Georgia at Alabama, Oct. 10

The SEC’s two most dominant programs over the past decade meet in Tuscaloosa, with plenty of recent history hanging over the matchup. Georgia had its 33-game home winning streak snapped by Alabama with a 24-21 defeat in 2025, but the Bulldogs later got revenge with an SEC championship game rout.

Both teams now enter the season with plenty at stake. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer faces pressure to keep the Crimson Tide in national title contention following Ty Simpson’s departure for the NFL. Kirby Smart looks to finally secure a regular-season win against Alabama. This one could have major implications beyond just SEC standings.

Indiana was untouchable in 2025, as coach Curt Cignetti and a haul of transfers — including quarterback Fernando Mendoza — put together a perfect 16-0 season and claim the Hoosiers’ first national title. The final four wins were a murderer’s row: Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon and Miami.

It will be difficult to go through the Big Ten unscathed. A road win here would reassert the Buckeyes as a top dog in a rugged conference.

Miami at Notre Dame, Nov. 7

It’s safe to assume grudges are still being held in South Bend after Miami beat the Fighting Irish in the opener and then finished ahead of Notre Dame in the rankings to claim a playoff spot this past season.

Both teams enter the season with extra motivation to win it all and rosters capable of pulling it off. While Miami can return to the playoff by winning an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) title, this is one of the few statement-making opportunities for the Irish, who have a relatively low strength of schedule.

BYU at Utah, Nov. 7

Morgan Scalley’s debut season as Utah coach will include an edition of the Holy War that could play a big role (again) in the Big 12 race and the playoff berths available the first week of December. There’s new staff in place and new faces, too, including two replacements for NFL draft picks on the offensive line.

BYU held on to coach Kalani Sitake, has quarterback Bear Bachmeier and RB LJ Martin back, and is coming off a 12-2 season loaded with big wins and only a pair of losses to Texas Tech. The Cougars will be itching to erase that runner-up finish and crack the CFP.

Honorable mention

Oklahoma at Michigan (Sept. 12), Houston at Texas Tech (Sept. 19), SMU at Louisville (Sept. 19), MIami at Clemson (Oct. 3), USC at Penn State (Oct. 10), Texas at Texas A&M (Nov. 27).

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The remains of 19 dead migrants, including children, were found in the Arizona desert near the U.S.-Mexico border last month, a two-year record, according to data from the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner and the advocacy group Humane Borders.

Among the deceased, five appeared to have been dead for less than a day and two had been dead for less than a week when they were found.

“This is a persistent and perennial problem, it’s not just a July 2026 problem,” Brad Jones, a political science professor at the UC Davis Global Migration Center and a Humane Borders board member, told the Arizona Daily Star.

“It does ebb and flow, but it never goes away,” he said. “We’ve never had a period of zero recovered remains” since Humane Borders was founded in 2000, acording to Jones.

The record number of deaths, likely an undercount, is all the more striking because border crossings have plunged overall since Donald Trump took office and tightened a variety of immigration policies, including effectively cutting off all asylum claims and restricting entries at the southern border.

There were nearly 10 times fewer encounters between Border Patrol agents and migrants in July 2026 than during the same month in 2024, the final full year of Joe Biden’s administration.

As The Independent has reported, the U.S. has long pursued a strategy of “prevention through deference,” using military-style security infrastructure such as walls and barbed wire at popular points of entry to push migrants into remote rural areas spanning the lengthy U.S.-Mexico border, in the hopes that the danger of the crossing will prevent future migration.

Critics argue that undocumented immigration into the U.S. is often driven by life-or-death factors and migrants will make the journey regardless of what kind of barriers are in their way, exposing already-vulnerable people to injury and death along the mountains, rivers and deserts of the borderlands.

The Trump administration has continued to fortify the border, thanks in part to a $46 billion infusion of funds from Congress to continue building its signature border wall, which was largely paused during the Biden administration.

Border construction efforts have continued across Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, despite opposition from indigenous tribes, environmental advocates and park boosters, who have been particularly incensed by a plan to add new border security infrastructure within Big Bend National Park, an area that’s not a high-traffic illegal immigration zone.

In addition to adding new physical barriers at the border, the Trump administration has sought massive changes to the legal regime along the frontier.

The White House has argued migration into the U.S. constitutes an invasion and gives the administration the power to remove undocumented border crossers without giving them a chance to seek asylum, a right which is protected under U.S. and human rights law. Lower courts have blocked the policy, though the Trump administration is seeking a Supreme Court appeal.

The administration has also revoked temporary protected status rights for people from a variety of nations, policies which had given tens of thousands of immigrants from unstable regions reprieve from deportation.

Last year, 32 people died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, the most deaths in more than two decades.

All rail lines between Southport and Wigan Wallgate are currently blocked.

Rail operator Northern issued the following advice around alternative travel options for people while the rail services are affected. Travel on buses is being offered for free for a number of operators.

The operator said: “You can travel on the following operators and routes at no extra cost: · Bee Network buses between Wigan and Appley Bridge on the 635 bus ·

Merseyrail services between Southport and Liverpool Central.

Merseyrail services between Ormskirk and Liverpool Central.

Merseyrail services between Headbolt Lane and Liverpool Central.

Please note that other train operators may also be affected by disruption – please check your whole journey before travelling. Northern train ticket restrictions have been lifted in the affected areas, including Advance and Peak restrictions, during this disruption. Restrictions will be reinstated once the disruption ends.”

The programme follows Lana Washington (McClure) who heads a Metropolitan Police bomb squad after previously working as a military bomb disposal operative.

Her team are on the frontline once again as London is “rocked by a wave of devastating bombings.”

A synopsis for series four adds: “The attackers are the most skilled and dangerous adversaries Lana’s ever faced, and she and her team are at the heart of the race to track them down and prevent further casualties.

“But as the hunt for the bombers intensifies, unsettling cracks begin to appear in the investigation.

“Even those Lana works closely with hide dark secrets.

“Time is running out and Lana must confront her greatest challenge yet – one that will push her to the edge.

“The fate of the capital hangs in the balance.”

Discussing where her character is at the start of the new series, McClure shared: “We’ll see Lana trying her best to get a grip on things, she’s going to therapy and balancing that with her job.

“She’s very capable but she’s also not in great shape – she’s doubting herself, which is very dangerous in that job, you have to be certain when dealing with bombs because the stakes are
as high as they can be.

“I’ve always loved how fearless Lana is, and even though we’ll see moments where she does feel fear, she will never show face. If she’s going down it will be with a battle.

“She doesn’t want people to see that she’s questioning her own ability.”

Trigger Point series 4 full cast list

• Vicky McClure as Lana Washington
• Eric Shango as Danny
• Nabil Elouahabi as Hass
• Natalie Simpson as DS Helen Morgan
• Maanuv Thiara as DCI Amir Batra
• Kerry Godliman as Sonya Reeves
• Christopher Hatherall as Phil Croxley
• Tom Glenister as DC Neil Brenton
• Maisie Ayres as Wren
• Chris Reilly as Eddie

• Julie Graham as Commander Nia Quentin
• Tommy French as Tony Miller
• Michael Balogun as Andy Oldfield
• Julian Ovenden as John Francis
• Roderick Hill as Schroder
• Ian Conningham as PC Matthew Redhead
• Posy Sterling as DC Ellie Hackett
• Jonas Armstrong as Sebastian Pinchbeck
• Fred Pearce as PC Robert Wells
• Davina Moon as Johanne Wollford
• Sam Baker-Jones as Troy
• Matt Barkley as Ben
• Joshua Griffin as Kai Gadley
• Katie Carlton as Esme Winston

Recommended reading:

When will Trigger Point series 4 be on TV?

The first episode of Trigger Point series four will air at 9pm on ITV 1 on Sunday, August 31.

The second episode will follow the next day in the same timeslot on Monday, August 31.

After that, the remaining four episodes will air in the same pattern and will be available to watch on ITVX.

Will you be watching Trigger Point series 4? Let us know in the comments.

The young Briton looked for the early stoppage with heavy, energy-inducing swings in the opening exchanges, but they sapped his resources as he ran out of steam, and Hrgovic took full advantage, slamming him with counter-strikes and body shots before the referee stepped in in the penultimate round.

Rishi Sunak‘s D-Day blunder, Sir Keir Starmer‘s free suits, Andy Burnham using the emergency alerts system for barbecuing advice: voters must often think, ‘What an idiot the prime minister is – I could do better’. 

Now they have a chance. A new computer game gives players an opportunity to face various prime ministerial dilemmas and to be scored accordingly.

Imagine, for instance, that London‘s Tube has been halted by a strike. Do you cave in to the unions, back the bosses or appoint an independent mediator (‘mostly so that no one rings you again about the Circle Line’)?

Here is another problem. Within days of taking the highest office in the land you learn that the Treasury has run out of fiscal headroom and one of your manifesto commitments must be disowned to stop a run on the pound.

Do you: drop weekly bin collections; scrap a new hospitals programme and instead talk dishonestly about upgrades to existing hospitals; abort a promised tax freeze and insist that ‘economic circumstances have changed’ since the Election a week ago; or do you cancel a much-vaunted transport investment programme?

When some minister is caught in a scandal, do you, as boss, prop up party morale by defending the erring wretch? Or swing the axe before considering the facts of the matter? 

There is the middle option of referring the allegations to a standards committee but that might simply appall both your supporters and your enemies.

It is not unknown for prime ministers to cause diplomatic incidents. If, say, you upset the French president (easily done, after all), do you personally telephone the Elysee Palace to apologise?

Do you issue a public announcement insisting that your so-called insult was misunderstood and was in fact a sign of your deep affection for cher Emmanuel?

Or do you opt for the third option of sticking to your guns and saying the French deserve anything that’s coming to them? Which option is wisest? 

On that one, I must confess, I had little hesitation, but then I do not have to spend G7 meetings in the same room as President Macron.

Ladies and gentlemen, I gave No 10: Full Confidence a couple of goes. As a parliamentary sketch writer I might be supposed to have a nose for what journalists want from a PM. 

Well, that plainly is not true. In both games I was bundled out of office by… the media. How merciless and unpredictable they were.

As the game proceeds, your levels of support change with backbench MPs, Cabinet ministers, the media and the public. Once you hit zero per cent on any one of those four, you are out of office.

In my first attempt I survived in office for two years, ten months, worse than Neville Chamberlain, roughly on a par with Gordon Brown.

On the second go I lasted one year and nine months which was worse than Sir Keir, better than Mr Sunak and about the same as poor Sir Anthony Eden.

The game, whose inventor Benjamin Brewis was inspired by Downing Street’s recent rapid turnover of prime ministers, has been such a success that it has shot to the top of Apple’s computer-game charts.

Mr Brewis has pointed to such real-life political storylines such as the Conservative Chief Whip, Gavin Williamson, who used to keep a pet tarantula on his desk, and the time that Boris Johnson was seeking to avoid some live TV cameras and contrived to stride into a walk-in fridge. 

Then there are the natural disasters that loom as if from nowhere, at present the drought afflicting so much of England and Wales.

In another of the game’s storylines, suburban London’s parakeet population gets out of control. 

Should the prime minister: do nothing; set up a rehoming scheme for parakeets; or order an immediate extermination of the little pests?

Not being particularly attached to parrots, and as someone who likes politicians to be decisive, I pressed the option for the parakeet extermination. 

Let rip the Purdey shotguns like the artillery’s opening salvo at the battle of the Somme, said I as prime minister.

Even as I was taking this decision, my advisers told me that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds was issuing a statement. Uh oh.

Mr Brewis’s game, for which one pays £2.99, is quite fun for half an hour or so. Some of his scenarios betray a nicely sceptical air. 

After a by-election loss, should a prime minister blame the local candidate, announce a ‘listening’ visit to the constituency in something like six weeks’ time, or give an interview insisting (while avoiding eye contact with the camera) that the swing in the vote was small enough for this, in fact, to represent ‘a great win’ for the government? 

Don’t give them ideas, Mr Brewis.

One thing the game gets right, I suspect, is the time pressure. You only have a few seconds to read questions and possible solutions, and soon the sheer pace of traffic starts to make you panic. 

The letters dance in front of your eyes. How easy it becomes to press the wrong button. This may be equally true in the real No10.

Where the game is at present less satisfactory is in – cough – attributing such power to the media. 

In my two spells of office with No10: Full Confidence, I was toppled because I scored 0 per cent approval with the media, even though I had 100 per cent support from my backbenchers and the Cabinet.

Boris and Keir will tell you that the parliamentarians are far more dangerous than the Fourth Estate.

The Duke of Sussex has returned to the UK ‘just as angry’ as he was when he left six years ago, friends claim.

Harry, 41 – who flew into Birmingham last week with wife Meghan, 45, and their two children for a new life back in England – is said to be ‘spitting blood’ at certain members of the Royal Family and ‘expects an apology’.

The couple quit as working royals in 2020 and moved to the US in what has become known as ‘Megxit’.

Relations were further strained between the Sussexes and senior royals by a series of bombshell revelations in Harry’s memoir, Spare, and in several TV interviews, including one with Oprah Winfrey.

Earlier this month, in a shock announcement, the couple revealed they would be returning to a private, non-royal home, believed to be in the Cotswolds. It is understood that their children, Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, have been enrolled to start at a local prep school this week. But a source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Friends who caught up with Harry were expecting to hear noises of contrition and humility.

‘Instead, there will be no imminent mea culpa from Harry by the sounds of things. Far from it, in fact. He is still in that Oprah mindset.

‘They were agog to hear he still feels angry with members of the Royal Family, is still frustrated by the ‘men in grey suits’ who surround his father, and still expects an apology.’

Harry has repeatedly accused aides of trying to sabotage his reconciliation with King Charles, echoing the same language used by his mother, Princess Diana, about royal courtiers who, she believed, were trying to undermine her.

The source said: ‘Friends who have spoken to him since he returned to the UK were surprised to discover that the record has not changed one bit since 2020 and Megxit. It’s shocking and quite sad.’ It echoes what Harry said in an interview in 2023 when he said: ‘What I’d really like is some accountability. And an apology to my wife.’

The source added: ‘He certainly won’t be issuing a public apology for his actions and he’s whipped himself up all over again and Diana’s legacy is a factor in this.’

Next August will mark 30 years since Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris. Last month, during a visit to the UK, the Sussexes visited Diana’s grave at her childhood home, Althorp. Meghan later shared photos on social media of her two children carrying bunches of flowers through the estate’s grounds.

Last week, for their return to the UK, the Sussexes flew in on a private jet, believed to have been chartered from Planet Nine Private Air, a California-based operator, which costs about $12,000 (£9,000) per hour of flight time.

Yesterday, it was reported in the New York Post’s Page Six that the couple have enlisted the help of hedge-fund billionaire Ian Wace for their move back to Britain. The celebrity column claimed that Mr Wace – the founding partner of Marshall Wace LLP, one of the largest hedge funds in the world – was helping to finance the move as a long-term friend of the Sussexes.

The couple stayed on Mr Wace’s private Scottish island, Tanera Mor, during their recent holiday.

It is understood the Sussexes are waiting on a new assessment of their security needs after losing their automatic right to armed police protection when they stepped down as working royals.

In the meantime, Harry’s security adviser, David Langdown, is believed to have established a team of British security staff. The couple, who were approached for comment, will retain their homes in Montecito and Portugal.

Will Meghan be at Harry’s side for Diana Award?

The Duchess of Sussex could join Prince Harry at a high-profile fundraiser for The Diana Award now she has returned to Britain, The Mail on Sunday understands.

Attending the event would mark a symbolic moment for Meghan by linking her to the legacy of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana.

Harry is expected to attend the glitzy dinner and awards ceremony on September 18, say sources – and Meghan is considering joining him.

The Diana Award – which celebrates young people who make a difference to the lives of others – remains one of the last formal charitable links between Harry and his brother William.

The Prince of Wales made an appearance on behalf of the charity, which was set up in his mother’s honour, earlier this summer.

‘Harry is expected to take the lead at this event,’ said the source. ‘The brothers tend to take it in turns.

‘You won’t see the two men attending an event together any time soon – especially if Meghan is there.’

It is understood the ceremony will be staged at Raffles London at The OWO, a hotel located in the Old War Office in Whitehall.

Harry is expected to attend the glitzy dinner and awards ceremony on September 18, say sources – and Meghan is considering joining him

‘The Diana Award started looking for wealthy individuals to buy tables this summer,’ the source said. ‘You got the impression that Meghan’s attendance was not nailed-on yet, but it will be just the right sort of high-profile and glitzy occasion for her London debut.’

Another source suggested, however, that any appearance by the duchess is likely to cause tension.

‘It will make a lot of people at Kensington Palace uneasy if she is in attendance,’ they said.

‘Instead of returning to Britain solely as Harry’s wife and the mother of his children, she would be appearing alongside him at an event tied directly to the memory of Diana.

‘Save-the-date cards were sent two weeks ago.’

A spokesman for the charity said: ‘The Diana Award is at the early stages of considering how it may mark the 30th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death next year.

‘No plans have been agreed, no event has been confirmed, and no decisions have been made regarding attendance or participation.’

A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made no comment.

The disorder that burst onto the streets of Middlesbrough last weekend continues. On Thursday night, three cars were senselessly set alight in a field.

What began as a gathering to mourn the passing of Michael Cahill, 23 – one of five occupants killed when their car shot down the A66 in the wrong direction – quickly descended into a banger race, terrifying residents nearby.

The burning vehicles have become a picture of lawlessness that shames a corner of England of which I’m otherwise immensely proud.

As Tees Valley mayor, I represent the people of this region, and I can tell you that most are utterly repulsed by what they have witnessed these past few days. 

They are decent, hard-working people who want nothing more than to get to work, walk their children to school and enjoy their own town centre without fear of crime.

The problem has never been the people of Middlesbrough, but a drugs trade that has sunk its claws into the town, and wannabe gangsters who settle their petty scores in broad daylight with no thought for anyone else.

No amount of polite language should be allowed to disguise what is driving this. These are not misunderstood young men who took a wrong turn. 

They are criminals, plain and simple, chasing money and status through drugs and intimidation.

Cars were set alight in Middlesbrough for one of the occupants of the VW Passat involved in the fat A66 crash

The burnt remains of three cars sit in a scorched field billowing smoke into the sky 

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They have been allowed to flourish because for years the people who hold the levers of policing and criminal justice have been soft where they ought to have been hard.

This is not just a Middlesbrough problem, but symptomatic of Underclass Britain. This is the world where worklessness, drugs and benefits have become a way of life. 

This would rot any community, but what really kills it is the loss of respect for authority and personal responsibility.

There are now whole sections of this country that simply do not fear consequences, for the very good reason that there have not been any. 

They have grown up learning that a police officer can be sworn at without a second thought, that a teacher can be defied, that a court order is a piece of paper to be ignored.

Hand in hand with that goes the slow death of personal responsibility, because in this world everything is always somebody else’s fault. 

The drugs, the violence, the intimidation, the stolen cars driven at lethal speed through streets where children play, all of it gets explained away as the inevitable product of circumstance – ignoring the millions who grew up in exactly the same tough towns and chose instead to work, raise their families properly and keep to the law.

Clips of the cars skidding around the field were captioned ‘Rest in peace Micky’ in reference to Michael Cahill, one of the A66 fatalities

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Scores of blue balloons spelling out ‘Michael’ were released into the sky

It is a national failure that just happened to be on show in the North East last week.

I do not want to hear local politicians talking piously about ‘all the victims’, because on the A66 that night there were two victims and their names were PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough.

Nor do I want to see books of tribute opened for those who lose their lives committing crime, as though recklessness that puts everyone else in danger is a tragedy to be romanticised.

Over the coming weeks and months, the Home Office needs to get a grip by backing the police to flood these areas with officers and then keeping them there for as long as the job takes.

Forces such as Cleveland should be given the fairer share of funding they have been denied for years, so that officers can get back on the streets. 

And courts must lock up the people who wreck lives instead of handing them yet another chance they will only throw back in our faces.

None of this is easy and it can’t be fixed overnight, but the alternative is exactly what the country has just watched, which is families grieving, communities frightened and a political class that keeps quietly telling itself that all of this is happening to somebody else.

Philippa Cresswell, customer experience director at EMR, said: “We recognise how frustrating this disruption will be for customers, particularly following the three Saturdays affected by RMT strike action earlier this month, and we are very sorry for the impact this will have on August bank holiday plans.