Mum of man killed on A66 says ‘bring cars, quads’ for ‘send off he deserves’

The mum of one of the five men killed in a horror crash on the A66 near Middlesbrough has asked people to give him “the send-off he deserves” by arriving with “cars and quads.” Michael Cahill, 23, was one of five men killed when a VW Passat, reportedly evading police, collided with a marked police car while travelling in the wrong direction.

Police have arrested 17 people following the A66 crash, charging two of them and bailing the others, as part of investigations into alleged organised crime. The Passat had been pursued by police following an earlier incident in which a house in the Acklam area of Middlesbrough, linked to Worthy, was rammed by a vehicle.

Michael Cahill’s mother has urged for friends to bring “bikes, jeeps, cars and quads” to give her son the send-off he deserves”.

His mother posted a message on social media about the balloon release, reportedly referring to it as a “change of plans” while providing further details.

Police have previously said the five young men in the Passat may have had links to “serious and organised criminal activity” and four of them have previous convictions.

This comes ahead of inquests being opened by a Teesside coroner at Teesside Magistrates’ Court. Proceedings relating to the deaths of Pc Blades and Pc Clough, 38, will be heard in the morning, with separate inquests into the deaths of the five men killed in the crash scheduled for the afternoon.

Andy Burnham said the Government is offering “all of the support that the authorities need” after the “terribly tragic” house fire.

Asked about the incidents, the Prime Minister told reporters during a visit to South Wales: “Obviously we’re offering all of the support that the authorities need. The important thing, it’s a terribly tragic event that’s happened with the loss of a young woman and her seven-year-old niece.”

He continued: “Utterly devastating, and I’m sure there’s a whole community that is grieving, not just what happened at the weekend, and particularly we should stress our deepest respect for the police officers lost in the line of duty and sending our sympathies to their families.

“And we will obviously make sure that the support is there for them going forward. The only thing I can say this morning is there is an investigation under way. It will be the fullest possible investigation. The authorities will have all of the support that they need.

“We do need to understand the extent to which they may be connected, but they may not be. So I think it’s too early to jump to conclusions.

“But what we can say at this point in time is that all of the support will be provided to get to the heart of what has happened here.”