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A66 Crash: Inquests Set to Open Into Deaths of Seven People in Horror Crash
Inquests will examine the police pursuit crash and a separate house fire as detectives probe whether the deaths are linked.
On Thursday, the Teesside Coroner opened inquests into seven deaths from an August 22 A66 collision near Middlesbrough, including police officers PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38.
Blades and Clough died when their marked police vehicle was struck head-on by a Volkswagen Passat traveling against traffic at South Bank; the pursuit had been aborted before the collision.
Separately, a murder investigation began after a house fire in Grangetown on Wednesday killed seven-year-old Valentina Foster and her aunt Natalie McDonald; two men, aged 23 and 31, remain in custody.
Cleveland Police stated they "cannot rule out any links to wider organised crime at this time," while Superintendent Emily Harrison urged the public to contact authorities with any information.
A fundraiser established by the Cleveland Police Federation for the officers' families has attracted over £1m in donations, as communities across Teesside continue to leave tributes at the collision scene.