Uncle of man killed in A66 crash jailed for driving 100mph the wrong way down same stretch months before fatal collision
Cleveland Police have arrested a total of 17 people following the crash last Saturday which left seven dead
An uncle of one of the men killed in the A66 crash was jailed in June for driving on the wrong side of the same road during a near-identical police pursuit.
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Aaron Saddington, 23, was handed a 20-month sentence after racing towards oncoming vehicles on the dual carriageway.
His nephew, Makai Saddington, 18, was one of seven people who died in last Saturday's crash, along with four of his friends and two firearms officers.
Saddington was jailed after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and without insurance, according to court documents obtained by The Sun.
The incident was similar to the one which killed his 18-year-old nephew on the same road near Middlesborough.
Read more: Investigations into A66 crash continue as total arrests reach 17
Cleveland Police have arrested a total of 17 people following the crash.
On Tuesday, the force said it had arrested five more people with the assistance of the National Crime Agency and the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit.
The force said they were a boy aged 16, an 18-year-old and a man of 21, all on suspicion of participating in an organised crime group; a 55-year-old on suspicion of assisting an offender and a 23-year-old on suspicion of making threats to kill.
Pc Matthew Blades, 37, and Pc Tom Clough, 38, were killed when the Passat, which had been pursued by police, was driven the wrong way along the dual-carriageway and hit their marked armed response vehicle.
The five people in the Passat, Cole Worthy, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, and 23-year-olds Michael Robert Cahill and Jacob Matusiak, were pronounced dead at the scene at South Bank, early on Saturday.
Police had received reports early that morning of dangerous driving involving the Passat and a Volvo XC60, which was allegedly seen ramming properties.
One of the damaged homes was a semi-detached property in Acklam belonging to Worthy’s father, BBC News reported.
Images of the house have emerged showing collapsed brickwork and a smashed front window.
Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Fox called the investigation "fast-moving and complex", with links to serious organised crime.
It comes as a seven-year-old child and her aunt were killed in a house fire in Middlesborough, which police fear could be a revenge attack linked to the crash.
Valentina Foster, seven, and Natalie McDonald, 34, died in the blaze.
Cleveland Police added that two men aged 23 and 31 have been arrested on suspicion of murder.
The fire broke out at 5.23 am on Wednesday in a house less than a mile from the site of the A66 crash on 22 August.