An uncle of one of five men who died when they struck a police vehicle and killed two officers had been jailed after driving the wrong way down the same road during a 100mph police chase.
In a chillingly similar incident to his nephew, Aaron Saddington, 23, was locked up for 20 months in June after attempting to flee police by driving towards oncoming traffic on the busy A66 in Middlesbrough. He was sentenced after admitting to dangerous driving, driving while banned and without insurance, according to The Sun.
In the early hours of Saturday, Saddington’s nephew Makai, 18, died alongside four others in their VW Passat which was travelling the wrong way down the road when it collided with a police car carrying married father-of-two PC Matthew Blades, 37, and Iraq war veteran PC Tom Clough, 38. Both officers lost their lives in the collision, reports the Express.
The five occupants of the Passat, Cole Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington and 23-year-olds Michael Robert Cahill and Jacob Matusiak, were declared dead at the scene at South Bank, at around 3.30am on Saturday.
Cleveland Police have previously stated that the five young men in the Passat may have had connections to “serious and organised criminal activity”. Four of the five men in the vehicle had prior criminal records, and were thought to be linked with another car which was spotted ramming buildings earlier that morning.
Investigators revealed that on the morning of the crash, they had received multiple reports concerning two vehicles being driven recklessly.
The first motor, thought to be a Volvo XC60, was seen smashing into buildings across the Middlesbrough area.
The second car, a Volkswagen Passat, is understood to have been linked to the Volvo’s activities. Officers said both motors were running on fake number plates but were detected by automatic number plate recognition systems.
The Volvo XC60 connected to the initial reports has been located and seized in Middlesbrough.
Authorities confirmed there was no indication that recording of the events on Friday night and Saturday morning was “for the purposes of TikTok“.
Officers, working with the National Crime Agency, have now made 17 arrests in total following the devastating crash near Middlesbrough in the early hours of Saturday.
Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Fox, overseeing the strategic direction of the inquiry, said: “This has been a fast-moving and complex investigation, with significant links to serious and organised criminal activity.”
He added: “We have a duty to respond to, and thoroughly investigate, the serious criminal activity that resulted in this fatal incident, and to bring all those responsible to justice.”