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Middlesbrough timeline as stabbing and fire follow car crash

MP tells LBC that 'people are living in terror' after 200 extra police sent to North Yorkshire town

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By William Mata

An extra 200 police officers have been drafted to Middlesbrough to help investigate after the deaths of nine people over the past six days.

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Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald has decried the unrest in the North Yorkshire town, calling the events a "whole series of utterly appalling acts of wanton criminality".

He added that there was an "underlying cause" that attracts young men in their teens who are yet to be fully neurologically formed.

"They're getting pulled into this appalling set of behaviours and engaging in this performative criminality without any regard for the consequences," he said.

Here are all of the events to have unfolded so far.

Read also: 'People are living in terror' Middlesbrough MP slams escalating unrest following A66 crash

Car crash on the A66

Police officers at the scene of a fatal crash involving a police car and a Volkswagen Passat on the A66 in South Bank, near Middlesbrough
Police officers at the scene of a fatal crash involving a police car and a Volkswagen Passat on the A66 in South Bank, near Middlesbrough. Picture: Alamy

Seven people died in a car crash on Saturday, August 22, on the A66 in Southbank, near Middlesbrough.

Police cars had been following a Volkswagen Passat which had been suspected of being driven with cloned number plates.

But the officers stopped pursuing when the car began driving on the wrong side of the road.

A different police car, which was not involved in the pursuit, was driving on the A66 when the Passat then crashed into it, head-on.

Two police officers died and have been named as PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38.

Five men in the Passat also died, and have been named as: Makai Saddington, 18, Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Theo Rae, 17, Cole Worthy, 17, and Jakub Matusiak, 23.

Knife attack

A man is detained by police officers as people protest in Middlesbrough, following the stabbing attacks on Monday in Southport, in which three young children were killed. Picture date: Sunday August 4, 2024.
A man is detained by police officers as people protest in Middlesbrough, following the stabbing attacks on Monday in Southport, in which three young children were killed. Picture date: Sunday August 4, 2024. Picture: Alamy

On Thursday, August 27, a man was stabbed at an address in Eston, near Middlesbrough, at around midday.

Cleveland Police said that a 39-year-old was assaulted with a bladed weapon, but no arrests have yet been made.

Car hitting wall outside house

The scene at Steele Crescent, South Bank, as police are investigating reports of a vehicle crashing into a wall at a house near Middlesbrough.
The scene at Steele Crescent, South Bank, as police are investigating reports of a vehicle crashing into a wall at a house near Middlesbrough. Picture: Alamy

Before the stabbing, a car rammed into a wall outside a house in Steele Crescent, South Bank.

Superintendent Emily Harrison said: “The property was empty at the time and we have not currently received any reports of any injuries.

“Officers are conducting inquiries to establish the circumstances surrounding this incident.

“Our investigation is in its early stages, and it has not yet been confirmed whether this incident is linked to wider organised crime.”

House fire that killed two people

Police officers at the scene on Birchington Avenue, Grangetown, near Middlesbrough, where Valentina Foster, aged seven, and Natalie McDonald, 34, died following a fire at an end-of-terrace property on Wednesday morning.
Police officers at the scene on Birchington Avenue, Grangetown, near Middlesbrough, where Valentina Foster, aged seven, and Natalie McDonald, 34, died following a fire at an end-of-terrace property on Wednesday morning. Picture: Alamy

A seven-year-old child and her aunt were killed in a fire in Birchington Avenue, Grangetown.

The fire broke out in the early morning of Wednesday, August 26, and was just one mile away from the crash site, with the incidents said to be linked.

Cleveland Police said that two men aged 23 and 31 have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

The force said that a 48-year-old woman remains in a critical condition in the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle.

Car fire in Peterlee

Cars have reportedly set on fire on Teesside in a vigil for a man who lost his life in the tragic A66 crash
Cars have reportedly set on fire on Teesside in a vigil for a man who lost his life in the tragic A66 crash. Picture: Instagram

Cars were set on fire in Peterlee, County Durham, in a vigil for Michael Robert Cahill.