Grangetown Fire Claims Two Lives Amidst Broader Criminal Investigations
Fatal blaze linked to earlier A66 collision that killed seven, including two police officers, as authorities probe organised crime.
Image: Eddie Pollard / AI
Sarah Connor
A house fire in Grangetown on Wednesday killed a seven-year-old girl and her 34-year-old aunt.
The five youths in the crashed car were identified as Cole Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, Michael Robert Cahill, 23, and Jacob Matusiak, 23.
PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, were the two police officers killed in the collision.
Police pursued the Passat carrying the youths after an earlier incident where a house linked to Cole Worthy was rammed by a vehicle.
The pursuit was aborted when the Passat reportedly went the wrong way down the A66, where it is understood to have collided head-on with a police vehicle near Middlesbrough in Teesside.
Cleveland Police arrested 17 people in connection with the A66 crash; two face charges, while the others remain on bail.
The fire occurred less than a mile from the scene of the fatal A66 crash.
The five young men in the Passat may have had links to 'serious and organised criminal activity'.
Police claim the five young men in the Passat may have had links to 'serious and organised criminal activity'. Cleveland Police stated a 16-year-old boy and two men, 18 and 21, were arrested on suspicion of participating in an organised crime group in connection with the incident.
Four of the five young men in the car reportedly had criminal convictions and were believed to be associated with another car seen ramming properties earlier that morning.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham promised full support to establish the circumstances surrounding the fire, amidst ongoing investigations into alleged organised criminal activity.
The fire is understood to be a revenge attack linked to the five youths killed in the wrong-way crash.
The five youths in the Passat had allegedly been chasing a rival gang as part of a violent feud before their crash.
Cleveland Police are also investigating after a vehicle repeatedly crashed into the wall of an empty property on Steele Crescent, South Bank, early on Thursday morning, at around 12:30 am.
An online appeal for the officers' families has raised over £1 million.