25/08/2026
LATEST UPDATE: Cleveland Police has launched a wide-scale investigation into the criminality which took place prior to the fatal crash that took the lives of seven, including PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough.
On the morning of Saturday 22 August, Cleveland Police received several reports of two vehicles being driven dangerously.
The first vehicle, which is believed to be a Volvo XC60, was witnessed to be ramming properties in the Middlesbrough area.
The second vehicle, a Volkswagen Passat, is believed to have been associated with the activities of the Volvo XC60.
Both vehicles were operating with cloned number plates to avoid detection but were picked up by the Force’s automated number plate recognition technology.
The Volvo XC60 involved in the initial reports has been traced and recovered in Middlesbrough as part of the criminal investigation.
Throughout the course of the weekend Cleveland Police, supported by officers and staff from Durham, Northumbria and North Yorkshire Police, have worked tirelessly to establish the circumstances which led to the fatal collision.
Those enquires have resulted in the arrests of 12 people across Teesside.
Nine men and three women, aged between 19 and 61 have been arrested on suspicion of several offences including:
A 24-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of participating in an organised crime group and possession of an offensive weapon and is currently in police custody
A 19-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of participating in an organised crime group and possession of an offensive weapon and is currently in police custody
A 30-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and is in police custody
A 35-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of participating in an organised crime group and possession of an offensive weapon and is in police custody
A 21-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of participating in an organised crime group, possession of an offensive weapon and criminal damage. He has been remanded on recall to prison
A 20-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of threats to cause criminal damage and public order and is in police custody
A 61-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm without a certificate and has been released on conditional bail
A 47-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm without a certificate, possession with intent to supply class A and class B drugs and possession of class C drugs and has been released on conditional bail
A 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm without a certificate, possession with intent to supply class A and class B drugs and possession of class C drugs and has been released on unconditional bail
A 39-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm without a certificate, possession with intent to supply class A and class B drugs and possession of class C drugs and has been released on conditional bail
A 26-year-old man, of Micklow Close in Redcar, has been charged with possession with intent to supply class A and class B drugs and possession of criminal property
A 39-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of threats to kill and has been released on conditional bail
At the current time, there is no evidence to indicate that filming of the activities that took place on Friday night and Saturday morning has taken place for the purposes of TikTok.
Four of the occupants of the Passat had previous police convictions.
