Aaron Saddington was jailed for driving the wrong way to escape cops (Image: Facebook)
An uncle of one of five men who died in the horror A66 car crash when they hit a police vehicle killing two officers was jailed after wrong way down the same road during 100mph cop chase.
In a sickeningly similar case to his nephew, Aaron Saddington, 23, was banged up for 20 months in June after trying to escape police by speeding at oncoming traffic the busy dual carriageway. He was jailed after pleading guilty to angerous driving, driving while disqualified and without insurance.
In the early hours of Saturday, Saddington’s nephew Makai, 18, perished alongside four suspected gang members in their VW Passat which was travelling the wrong way down the same road when it hit a police car carrying married dad-of-two PC Matthew Blades, 37, and Iraq war hero PC Tom Clough, 38. Both officers died in the crash.
The five people in the Passat, Cole Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington and 23-year-olds Michael Robert Cahill and Jacob Matusiak, were pronounced dead at the scene at South Bank, at around 3.30am on Saturday.
Makai Saddington, 18, died in the crash on Saturday (Image: Facebook)
The case of Makai’s uncle has been revealed after court documents were obtained by The Sun.
Cleveland Police have previously said that the five young men in the Passat may have had links to “serious and organised criminal activity”. Four of the five men in the car had previous criminal convictions, and were believed to be associated with another car which was seen ramming properties earlier that morning.
Investigators said that on the morning of the collision, it received several reports of two vehicles being driven dangerously.
The first vehicle, believed to be a Volvo XC60, was witnessed ramming properties in the Middlesbrough area.
The second vehicle, a Volkswagen Passat, is believed to have been associated with the activities of the Volvo. Police said both vehicles were operating with cloned number plates but were picked up by automated number plate recognition technology.
The Volvo XC60 involved in the initial reports has been traced and recovered in Middlesbrough.
Police said there was no evidence that filming of the activities on Friday night and Saturday morning was “for the purposes of TikTok”.
Police, working alongside the National Crime Agency, have since made a total of arrests to 17 following the horrific crash near Middlesbrough in the early hours of Saturday.
Officers paying tribute to their comrades (Image: Getty)
Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Fox, responsible for the strategic leadership of the investigation, said: “This has been a fast-moving and complex investigation, with significant links to serious and organised criminal activity.”
He went on to say: “We have a duty to respond to, and thoroughly investigate, the serious criminal activity that resulted in this fatal incident, and to bring all those responsible to justice.”
Nearly £1,000,000 has been raised for the families of the two police officers who were killed.
A fundraiser created by the Cleveland Police Federation said funds raised would be split equally between the two officers’ families and the federation would continue to provide support.
Tributes for the five young men were also shared on social media, with many of their friends saying they “can’t believe it” and were “heartbroken” and “lost for words”.
Balloon releases have been announced in their memory at different locations.
To visit the fundraising page for the families of the police officers click here.
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