12 arrested following A66 crash which killed seven including two police officers

Middlesbrough Police confirmed arrest

Cleveland Police confirmed the arrests on Monday: nine men and three women aged 19 to 61, held on suspicion of ranging offences.

From possession of a firearm to participating in an organised crime group, police are considering the four killed in the accident to be linked to the arrested ones.

What happened this weekend on the A66

The collision happened in the early hours of Saturday 22 August, after officers responded to reports of two cars being driven dangerously on the road.

A Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way down the carriageway struck a marked police vehicle, where PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, were killed.

Five occupants of the Passat also died at the scene: Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Jacob Matusiak, 23, Makai Saddington, 18, Theo Rae, 17, and 16-year-old Cole Robert Worthy.

Four of the 5 that were in the Passat at the time had previous convictions, added the police earlier today.

Cleveland Police said the Passat had earlier been sought in connection with a Volvo XC60 seen ramming properties in the Middlesbrough area.

Both cars carried cloned plates but were picked up by automatic number plate recognition, and the Volvo has since been recovered. F

our of those who died in the Passat had previous convictions, the force added, with the arrests forming part of wider organised crime investigations in the area.

A No 10 spokesperson said that "the glorification of dangerous driving for clips and entertainment is utterly disgraceful."

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has called the sharing of videos that celebrate dangerous driving “truly reprehensible”, and Downing Street said Ofcom had its full backing to act against platforms that fail to remove them.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating the collision, which happened roughly 10 seconds after officers aborted a seven-minute pursuit.