Hundreds of extra police officers deployed to Middlesbrough as town gripped by violent gang warfare following A66 crash

HUNDREDS of police officers have been deployed to Middlesbrough following days of violence in the aftermath of the A66 crash. The town has been gripped by gang warfare after Saturday’s crash which killed two police officers and five young men. Valentina was killed in a house fire in the early hours of Wednesday morning Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk Armed cops at the scene of a stabbing in Middlesbrough on Thursday Credit: Tees Burnham Media On Wednesday, a woman and a seven-year-old girl died in a house fire only a mile away from the crash site, amid a string of other incidents. Early on Thursday morning, a car rammed into a wall outside a house in Steele Crescent, South Bank, just streets away from the other two scenes. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Later in the afternoon armed police were once again seen in the area after a man, 39, was stabbed at a house at the Bankfields estate in Eston. Following the incidents, Alec Brown, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, said more than 200 extra police officers have been, or will be, deployed from around the country to support Cleveland Police. A balloon release in memory of the A66 crash victims yesterday Valentina Foster, seven, and her aunt Natalie McDonald, 34, died in the house fire Credit: Facebook Floral tributes have been laid at Cleveland Police HQ for the two dead officers Credit: PA On social media, he said: “Thank you so much to the superintendent from Cleveland Police that has just taken their time to give updates to myself, Anna Turley (MP for Redcar), South Bank and Grangetown Ward councillors. “They are working 20-hour days to ensure the ongoing safety of innocent residents. “Over 200 extra police officers from forces around the country are here and are en route, from detectives to armed response. “I will be sending a letter today to our Prime Minister asking for even more resource. Most read in The Sun “The police really are doing an amazing job. “If it is any reassurance at all, jobs called in to the police are actually down this week, however, the seriousness of the ones that have been called in need serious and swift action. “Everyone is heartbroken over the loss of the aunt and little girl in Grangetown yesterday. “People need to feel safe in their homes.” Emergency services at the scene on the A66 in South Bank Credit: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire Cops believe the ‘joyriders’ were out looking for revenge after the home belonging to Worthy’s dad, pictured, was rammed twice by a Volvo Credit: PA No arrests have been made after today’s stabbing but police have not ruled out a link between the knife attack and the deadly A66 crash. It comes after the front garden wall of an address in Middlesbrough was repeatedly rammed by a car in the early hours of this morning. Neighbours woke up to the sight of bricks and a metal fence strewn across the grass of a house a few roads away. A local said the ramming unfolded in South Bank just before 1am, adding that a “car kept going backwards and forwards into the wall over and over”. This followed the death of seven-year-old Valentina Foster and her aunt Natalie McDonald, 34, in the blaze at 5.23am on Wednesday. Two men, aged 23 and 31, were arrested on suspicion of murder over the fire and remain in custody. It’s not yet known if Thursday’s ramming is linked to the first, which unfolded in the early hours of Saturday morning. A stolen car ploughed through the window of a red-brick property, and minutes later five “joyriders” were racing through the streets of Middlesbrough. Emergency services at the scene of the Grangetown house fire Credit: PA A house fire is understood to be linked to the horror A66 crash which claimed seven lives, including two policemen They were allegedly pursuing the Volvo involved in the attack on the home, which is understood to belong to one of their dads. Cops chased the car through Middlesbrough for just under seven minutes before the A66 tragedy unfolded. Ring doorbell footage captured it being driven at speed at around 3.36am, with locals recalling the noise of the two cars. As the Volkswagen Passat joined the A66 – on the wrong side of the road – cops called off the chase. But just 10 seconds later, at 3.39am, the car ploughed into another marked armed-response vehicle carrying two officers. The cop car was travelling on the correct side of the carriageway and had not been part of the high-speed chase, but was in the area to assist. Seven people tragically died in the smash at 3.39am – including PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38. The five young “joyriders” in the other car also died, with cops naming them as Michael Cahill, 23, Theo Rae, 17, Cole Worthy, 17, Jacob Matusiak, 23, and Makai Saddington, 18. Both the vehicle used to ram the Worthy’s home and the car involved in the A66 crash had cloned number plates. Cops arrested 17 people in connection with the fatal smash – 14 men and three women, aged between 16 and 61. Several were arrested on suspicion of being involved in organised crime.