Violence and distrust grip Middlesbrough after A66 crash kills seven

Residents in Grangetown and South Bank say they are living in fear after the A66 crash that killed two officers and five young men. Over 20 arrests have followed as police investigate organised crime.

Fear and mistrust take hold in Teesside communities after fatal A66 collision

BBC News visited Grangetown, near Middlesbrough, just after 8pm on a fading evening to find two teenagers in balaclavas tearing across a park on a muddy red quad bike, pulling wheelies past a man walking his dog. Younger boys — some not yet in their teens — gathered excitedly around the vehicle.

The scene illustrates why Grangetown and neighbouring South Bank now sit at the centre of a large police operation. According to BBC News, fears have mounted that organised crime is out of control following the deaths of two police officers and five young men in a crash on the A66.

During the visit, a member of the BBC team was struck by a pellet apparently fired from the group nearby. The injury was minor.

What happened on the A66

On Saturday 22 August, a Volkswagen Passat that had been pursued by police travelled the wrong way along the A66 and collided head-on with a police vehicle. PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, were killed. All five occupants of the Passat also died: Michael Cahill, 23, Jakub Matusiak, 23, Makai Saddington, 18, Theo Rae and Cole Worthy, both 17.

Four of the five young men killed had amassed 30 convictions between them for offences including car theft, drug possession, assaulting police officers and driving offences. Cahill had no previous convictions. The circumstances of the pursuit remain under independent investigation.

Since the crash, more than 20 people have been arrested in Middlesbrough and the surrounding area as part of a wider operation into what police have described as "serious and organised crime". Sources say two feuding gangs are at the centre of a spike in violence.

'You're born and bred with it'

When asked whether riding quad bikes through the park was unusual, the passenger on the bike was direct. "Yeah, this isn't any special day," he said. "You're born and bred and brought up with it. What do you expect? You don't know anything different."

Like many young people in the area, the riders expressed distrust towards police and pushed back against the characterisation of local gangs. "They're saying there are gangs, but there are no gangs," the driver said. "It's not London, mate."

The house in Acklam

The chain of events that ended on the A66 is believed to have begun eight miles away in Acklam, a quiet suburban street of 1930s semi-detached homes with hanging baskets and neat front gardens — a setting that feels far removed from Grangetown.

One house there now stands behind large metal barriers. A car was rammed into its bay window on the same night Cole Worthy died in the crash. Fragments of lights and bumper remain scattered across the driveway. The home belongs to Cole Worthy's father, Gye Worthy. There is no suggestion that Gye Worthy is involved in criminal activity.

Police say the vehicle used in the attack was a Volvo XC60. The BBC understands that Worthy and the four others then set off in the Passat to find that vehicle.

Neighbours describe a street living in fear and say the property has been targeted for more than a year. Almost all residents who agreed to speak did so on the condition of anonymity, concerned that showing their faces could put them or their homes at risk.

"Well, they should be scared, shouldn't they, that something's going to happen to their property if they say anything or get involved," one resident said. "So we don't."

A broader pattern of violence

The attack in Acklam is far from Middlesbrough's only recent case of a vehicle used as a weapon. Back in May, a tractor was driven into a house on Priory Road. Since the A66 crash, Cleveland Police has investigated at least two further rammings. Detectives have also linked their wider investigation to a caravan fire on Attlee Road in Grangetown.

"It's getting worse," a nearby resident said. "They're always balaclava-ed up as well, do you know what I mean? It can't be anything else. Why would you be like you are unless it was drugs?"

Whether every incident is part of a single feud has not been established. Taken together, however, the rammings, fires and arrests have created a strong sense among residents that violence is being used to intimidate, punish and send messages.

Deprivation and a void left by industry

Victoria, who moved to Acklam several years ago, said the escalating violence could not be separated from the wider condition of the town. "This is a social problem, especially in this area. Teesside has been massively neglected and ignored," she said.

Grangetown and South Bank are communities still living with the consequences of heavy industry's decline. Both now rank among England's most deprived neighbourhoods. On one adjoining estate, more than a dozen homes have boarded-up windows. On a wall, the words "RIP 2UZZI" have been painted — said locally to be the nickname of Jakub Matusiak, who lived one street away.

In South Bank, a group of teenagers tended three ponies tethered on a grass verge. Two performed wheelies on electric scooters nearby.

A 17-year-old boy told BBC News he had known Matusiak. "He was my best mate," he said. "It's sad."

Elsewhere on the estate, three letters were daubed repeatedly on walls: "FTP" — an expletive directed at police.

'I'd rather die than ring the police'

The sense that nobody is fully in control is what residents say unsettles them most. Distrust of police runs deep among young people in the area, and the quote one young person offered to the BBC encapsulates the mood: "I'd rather die than ring the police."

For many in Grangetown and South Bank, that sentiment is not hyperbole — it reflects daily life in communities where fear of reprisal from criminal networks is weighed against a fundamental mistrust of the authorities meant to protect them.

Source: BBC News