Police condemn ‘anyone using tragedy as excuse for disorder’ after five cars torched at A66 crash vigil

Cars were torched and flares set off at a gathering for one of the men killed in a head-on collision with police on the A66.

Footage on social media showed several vehicles on fire at the event, which was reportedly a vigil to remember 23-year-old Michael Cahill, in a field in Haswell, County Durham.

Blue balloons and flares were also released, with one attendee captioning the videos “Rest in Peace Mickey”.

Cars could also be seen skidding around the area with a number of people on motorbikes and quad bikes.

Later on Thursday, more videos shared online appeared to show burnt-out cars being moved from the field by a tractor.

The footage comes after hundreds of police officers were drafted in after a spate of violent incidents in the Teesside town of Middlesbrough, which a local MP said has left people “not feeling safe” going to the shops.

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 , and that he would be asking the prime minister for more support.

He said officers were “working 20-hour days to ensure the ongoing safety of innocent residents”.

The violent incidents began with the head-on crash on the A66, which killed seven people, including two police officers, on Saturday.

On Wednesday, a fatal house fire a mile away from the crash site took the lives of a seven-year-old girl and her 34-year-old aunt.

A further two incidents on Thursday prompted concerns of further violence, after a vehicle crashed into a wall outside a house in Steele Crescent, South Bank, just minutes away from the other two scenes in the early hours.

At around midday, a 39-year-old was stabbed in nearby Sedgemoor Road, Eston.

A man who lives near the scene of the stabbing said people in the area were “trying to keep our heads down”.

Referring to the postcode that covers Eston and Grangetown and South Bank, among other areas, he said: “TS6 has gone mad, it’s brutal.”