Middlesbrough mayor insists terror city isn’t ‘lawless’ and cops are ‘doing sterling job’
Mayor Chris Cooke spoke out after a week of violence in the north-east town thought to be linked to a bloody gang war
Mayor Chris Cooke has hit back at claims Middlesbrough is ‘lawless’(Image: Teessidelive)
The mayor of Middlesbrough has insisted it isn’t “lawless” and says police are “doing a sterling job”. Mayor Chris Cooke spoke out after a week of violence in the north-east town thought to be linked to a bloody gang war.
He admitted it had been “very tough” for the town after Pc Matthew Blades and Pc Tom Clough were killed along with five youths in a head-on crash on the A66.
A string of raids on homes in the area are thought to be linked to the smash, with the five men believed to have been chasing rival gang members shortly before their deaths.
Cleveland Police have since arrested 24 people in an organized crime crackdown.
Mr Cooke said: “Police are doing an absolutely sterling job to round up as many people as possible.”
And the Labour mayor claimed crime had reduced in the last two years and Cleveland Police “had been making progress”.
Seven people died in the A66 crash(Image: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)
“They are the second most improved police force in the UK. They are doing extremely well in spite of the lack of funding,” he added.
The violence spiralled into the national spotlight last Saturday (August 22 ), when a Volkswagen Passat fled police and drove the wrong way along the A66 dual carriageway. The Passat smashed head-on into a marked armed response vehicle, killing five young men; Cole Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, Michael Robert Cahill, 23, and Jakub Matusiak, 23.
Police believe the crash was preceded by a ram-raid just 40 minutes earlier, when a Volvo XC60 repeatedly hit a house in Acklam belonging to the father of Worthy, amid a bitter feud involving the teenager and a former friend turned gang rival.
Meanwhile, two men were arrested after a house fire killed a woman and a child in Middlesbrough.
Cars were set alight during a balloon release for a man killed on the A66(Image: Ashley Ferguson)
The blaze killed Natalie McDonald, 34, and her niece Valentina Foster, seven. Four other people were injured in the inferno last Wednesday.
And at least five cars were set alight at a balloon release near County Durham in memory of one of the crash victims.
