Vehicle smashes into wall outside house near A66 crash and house fire | News UK

A vehicle has smashed into a wall outside a property minutes away from the site of the A66 crash and subsequent deadly house fire near Middlesbrough.

The incident took place in the early hours of Thursday morning at a house on Steele Crescent, South Bank.

It is located near the site of a crash on the A66 which killed seven people on Saturday, and a house fire in Grangetown on Wednesday, where a seven-year-old girl and her aunt died.

Officers from Cleveland Police were called to the house – which was empty at the time – after 12.30am on Thursday.

An investigation has been launched and police have not confirmed whether there is any link between the previous two incidents and today’s crash.

Local policing Superintendent Emily Harrison said: ‘The property was empty at the time and we have not currently received any reports of any injuries.

‘Officers are conducting inquiries to establish the circumstances surrounding this incident.

‘Our investigation is in its early stages and it has not yet been confirmed whether this incident is linked to wider organised crime.’

The crash occurred the same morning that inquests were opened into the deaths of two police officers who were among those killed when their vehicle was hit by a car driving the wrong way down the A66.

PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, died in the resulting head-on collision with a Volkswagen Passat on Saturday.

Teesside Coroners’ Court heard that ‘all occupants of both vehicles were sadly pronounced dead at the scene’.

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.

Mr Appleton said: ‘At this stage it is understood that there had been a police pursuit of the Volkswagen Passat.

‘It entered the A66 carriageway against the flow of traffic, at which stage the pursuit was aborted.

‘A short time after… the Volkswagen Passat collided with a police vehicle, which had not been directly involved in the prior pursuit.’

Inquests will open this afternoon into the deaths of the young men who were in the Passat during the collision – Cole Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, and 23-year-olds Michael Robert Cahill and Jacob Matusiak.

On Wednesday, seven-year-old Valentina Foster and her aunt Natalie McDonald, 34, died following a fire at a house in Grangetown.

Tributes have been left outside the property, including flowers and toys, plus a photo of the pair and the words: ‘RIP Natalie and Valentina you will be missed.’

A teddy bear was left with a note which said: ‘Now she dances with butterflies Valentina.’

Prime minister Andy Burnham has said the government is offering ‘all of the support that the authorities need’ following the house fire.

‘The important thing, it’s a terribly tragic event that’s happened with the loss of a young woman and her seven-year-old niece,’ he said.

He continued: ‘Utterly devastating, and I’m sure there’s a whole community that is grieving, not just what happened at the weekend, and particularly we should stress our deepest respect for the police officers lost in the line of duty and sending our sympathies to their families.

‘And we will obviously make sure that the support is there for them going forward.

‘The only thing I can say this morning is there is an investigation under way. It will be the fullest possible investigation. The authorities will have all of the support that they need.

‘We do need to understand the extent to which they may be connected, but they may not be. So I think it’s too early to jump to conclusions.

‘But what we can say at this point in time is that all of the support will be provided to get to the heart of what has happened here.’

Police have arrested 17 people following the crash as part of investigations into alleged organised crime. Two have been charged and the others have been bailed.

Police have previously said the five young men in the Passat may have had links to ‘serious and organised criminal activity’, with four having previous convictions.

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