Drugs, family warfare & grudges’… Middlesbrough locals left living in fear as ‘gang war’ erupts after A66 crash

DUSK falls on the Grangetown estate in Middlesbrough, and a boy of around eight whizzes around on a push bike, flicking the middle finger to anyone he doesn’t like the look of. He’s already learned to act tough in a town where the brutality of gang warfare this week burst out into the open like a festering wound. Cars set on fire at balloon release memorial for Michael Cahill who died in A66 crash Cahill’s friends paid tribute to him with smoke flares A balloon release in memory of A66 crash victims Makai Saddington, Theo Rae and Cole Worthy is held near the Middlebeck Social Club It began with tit-for-tat house rammings and ended in the tragic deaths of five “joyriders”, two brave police officers, a seven-year-old girl and her aunt. At the putrid heart of it all lies claims that the young lads who smashed their car into police while going the wrong way up the A66 in Middlesbrough were being “groomed” by criminals. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! One source from the Grangetown area told The Sun: “This is about drugs, family warfare and long-time grudges, not stolen cars and joyriding. “The lads who were killed were being influenced by people who are known to them, older and more experienced in crime. “They didn’t go off on some solo venture to get cops to chase them. They were sharks for bigger players.” Two hundred specialist cops have been called in to restore order but residents fear the presence of more uniforms will only inflame gangs in the South Bank, Eston, Pallister Park and Grangetown areas. Last night, cars were torched at a twisted vigil for one of the young men killed in the A66 wrong-way crash A balloon release for an A66 victim last night Locals told The Sun Middlesbrough is ‘lawless’ Ordinary Brits living in Middlesbrough told The Sun they’re “sick of the crime and the lawless way these kids carry on” with drugs and motorbikes “flying about carrying kids in balaclavas”. A local said: “It’s totally lawless. The police have ignored the problems in the area for years and now they want to come in heavy-handed. It won’t go down well.” Most read in The Sun One Grangetown takeaway worker added: “There’s no money and there’s no hope. “Where’s the so-called King of the North Andy Burnham when you need him? The whole area has been failed and forgotten by politicians and it just feels like there’s no going back.” Some fed-up locals said “there’s always something going on here” and this is only shocking to those on the “outside”. “It’s been going on for months,” one man told us. “It was all boiling away underneath the surface.” PC Tom Clough, one of two cops who died in the A66 tragedy Kyle Stephenson, 24, has grown up on the Thorntree estate and knew some of those killed Local MP Andy McDonald said people feel “trapped in their own homes” and don’t feel safe enough to go to the shops. He told Times Radio: “That is just unacceptable. This is terrorism and we’ve got to have an appropriate response to deal with the people who are causing such mayhem in our communities and to allow people to lead their peaceful lives.” Last night, cars were torched at a twisted vigil for one of the young men killed in the A66 wrong-way crash. Five motors were burned to a crisp in remembrance for Michael Cahill, 23, after he and four others died in the A66 smash on Saturday morning. Cahill’s friends paid tribute to him by skidding the cars around a farmer’s field and churning up the ground before setting the motors alight. It is not clear who the cars belonged to. To many of the youths of Pallister Park, the sprawling and deprived estate where two of the “joyriders” lived, the five young men have become anti-establishment heroes. These are estates where hope has been abandoned and community is all that remains to cling to – so much so that locals are willing to glorify the deaths of five men who ended the lives of two police officers who never made it home from night shift. A two-dozen-or-so youths set off blue flares as fire began to take hold of cars on a farmer’s field last night, leaving the landowner with a charred mess to clean up. People at Pallister Park, like John McQuade, 76, have had enough However Megan Clarke, 26, who knew Makai Saddington and his family, believes the five were a product of their environment Cahill’s mum had urged for people to bring “bikes, jeeps, cars and quads” and give her son “the send off he deserves” as she encouraged people to the memorial. Days earlier a crowd of 200 had gathered to commemorate another of the joyriders, Jakub Matusiak, 23, lighting flares and tearing around on off-road bikes in his honour. The vigils were in stark contrast to the quiet church service for PC Matthew Blades, 37, a former teacher, and PC Tom Clough, 38, a former soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the aftermath, the former elected mayor of Middlesbrough, Andy Preston, summed up the feelings of the majority in the town. “Everyone is entitled to grieve,” he said. “But what happened was disrespectful to the families of the two police officers who died doing their jobs. “Flares were lit, some arrived on off-road bikes and quad bikes, racing around with their faces hidden by balaclavas. TIMELINE OF A TOWN’S TERROR SATURDAY 3am: Home of the dad of one of the A66 crash gang is rammed. 3.36am: Gang’s VW Passat, with cloned plates, is seen pursued by police. 3.39am: It joins the A66 in the wrong direction. Cops abort chase. Ten ­seconds later it collides head-on with a police armed response vehicle. PC Matthew Blades, PC Tom Clough and the five Passat occupants are killed. MONDAY: Police say Volvo XC60, also with cloned plates, rammed homes. They announce 12 arrests on suspicion of crimes linked to organised gangs. TUESDAY: Police arrest five more people, including a 16-year-old boy. Two men are charged with various offences while a third is recalled to prison. WEDNESDAY 5.23am: Huge fire at a property in Grangetown. People seen leaping from upstairs windows 11.54am: Murder probe announced after fire deaths of Valentina Foster, seven, and her aunt Natalie McDonald, 34. 5.25pm: Police announce two men arrested on suspicion of murder. THURSDAY 0.34am: 4×4 in ramming incident near where Valentina died. 3pm: Armed police surround a house after a man suffers serious knife injuries. 4.30pm: Council leader reveals 200 extra cops are being drafted in. “The events around this tragedy are telling the story of places like Middlesbrough across the country. “A relatively small group, but big enough to cause chaos, lives by different rules from everyone else.” He spoke for communities across Teesside who have seen their lives blighted by the scourge of drugs and the organised crime gangs who profit from them. People at Pallister Park, like John McQuade, 76, have had enough, saying: “People are sick of the crime, the lawless way these kids carry on, the drugs, the motorbikes flying about carrying kids in balaclavas, it’s crazy. “And there are idiots out treating the five kids in that car as heroes? They deserve no recognition, if I had my way they’d have “manslaughter” on their grave stones. “Those two police officers were out at work and they didn’t get home to their families and why? Because a bunch of kids think they’re above the law and can do what they want. It’s absolutely disgusting.” The joyriders had driven the wrong way down the dual carriageway in Middlesbrough and crashed into a police car, also killing PC Blades and PC Clough. The four other occupants of the VW Passat who died in Saturday’s crash were: Theo Rae, 17, Cole Robert Worthy, 17, Jakub Matusiak, 23, and Makai Saddington, 18. The ‘joyriders’ were reportedly out looking for revenge after one of their dads’ homes were rammed at 3am that morning Credit: PA Natalie McDonald, who died in the fire, and her partner Anthony McDonald who is still in hospital It’s been suggested that the “joyriders” were out looking for revenge after one of their dads’ homes were rammed at 3am that morning. Retired cleaner Mary Watts, 66, believes parents have a responsibility to instill discipline. She said: “The kids around here have no respect for anything or anyone. They tear around on bikes with their faces covered and they don’t care about the law or what they say to people. “If you dared to challenge them you would get nothing but abuse. “I have a daughter and I did not bring her up that way, she knew the difference between right and wrong as a child and I don’t believe the kids these days do. “I do feel for the families involved after that terrible crash, for all of them, especially the police officers’ families. “But we can’t forget that those five lads also had families who will be grieving for them.” However Megan Clarke, 26, who knew Makai Saddington and his family, believes the five were a product of their environment. TENSIONS BOILING Middlesbrough residents say the town is more like Beirut than the “Boro”, the once-proud town at the heart of industrialised Britain. The town is the most dangerous in England and Wales with 150 crimes per 1,000 residents, compared to the national average of 72. People living in Teesside are also more likely to be murdered than anywhere else with a homicide rate of 21.7 per million people. The average is 8.6. Poverty levels are also off the scale with half its neighbourhoods ranked as “very deprived” making it the council with the highest proportion of impoverished neighbourhoods across England and Wales. The Sun previously reported how locals in the Grangetown area, where machete-wielding yobs reportedly roam the streets all year round, were begging cops to “do more”. Across the rundown Teesside town, front doors were splattered with “Help us”, and “Keep out!” daubed in spray paint for Halloween. But after a spate of horrendous violence, these decorations now read more like a chilling SOS from a community under siege. She said: “I knew Makai and I know his mum and I just feel for her so much, she has lost her son and the people making cruel comments about the lads just don’t think about what their families are going through. “They did not set out that night to kill anyone, yes they tried to escape the police but they had no intention to harm anyone and they lost their own lives alongside the two police officers. “Of course you see kids racing around on bikes ballied up in areas like this, unfortunately it’s what Middlesbrough is now known for. “What else are they going to do? There’s nothing here for them, no youth centres, sports clubs, no jobs. You can go all the way through college and come out with some qualifications and find there’s still no job for you. “So is it any surprise they act out and get involved in crime? “Makai was a kid who just turned 18 in June, he was just maturing and figuring out who he was and he did something reckless that ended so badly, but they were kids and sometimes kids get things wrong.” Kyle Stephenson, 24, has grown up on the Thorntree estate and knew some of those killed. Police officers at the scene of the A66 crash on Saturday Credit: PA Flowers near the scene of the house fire in Grangetown Credit: PA He said: “I don’t agree with anything they did, but people need to remember that a couple of those lads were only 17-years-old. “In most cases you get time to grow up and realise the mistakes you’ve made.” A drugs war has been raging on Teesside for years, with rival factions battling for supremacy, but this year the violence has escalated. On Wednesday, a house fire killed a little girl and her aunt just a few streets away – also feared to be linked to organised crime in the area. Seven-year-old Valentina Foster and her aunt Natalie McDonald, 34, died in the blaze at 5.23am Armed cops guarded the fire-hit property as the underworld war burst into the open. Two men, aged 23 and 31, were arrested on suspicion of murder over the fire and remain in custody. A second house was rammed by a car the day after the fatal blaze Credit: PA The fire tore through the home in the early hours of the morning Credit: PA Valentina had tragically begged relatives to let her spend the night to help celebrate Natalie’s daughter’s 15th birthday. Family friends say the girl, who escaped the blaze by jumping from a bedroom window with a friend, has now tragically lost both her parents. The day after the fire, another house was rammed a few streets down. Yesterday, a stabbing unfolded down the road with armed cops rushing to the scene. Last month Cleveland Police reaffirmed its determination to tackle the drugs gangs. It comes as more than 200 police officers have been deployed to Middlesbrough as gang warfare spirals. Officers include firearms cops and detectives with years of experience in tackling gang-related violence. Cleveland Police has so far made 17 arrests following the A66 crash as they crackdown on the disorder. The offences range from suspicion of participating in an organised crime group to possession of firearms or drugs.