Inquests open into A66 crash police deaths near Middlesbrough

Warning: This article contains details people may find upsetting

Inquests have opened into the deaths of two police officers who were killed in a crash on the A66.

Cleveland Police officers PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, died on Saturday when their police vehicle was hit by a Volkswagen Passat which was going the wrong way down the dual carriageway near Middlesbrough.

Area Coroner for Teesside and Hartlepool Paul Appleton opened the inquests at Teesside Coroner’s Court.

Further inquests into the deaths of the five young men in the Passat are expected to open later.

Appleton said both officers died in a fatal road traffic collision on the A66 between Normanby Road and Church Lane in Eston, after their vehicle was in collision with a Volkswagen Passat that was driven “against the flow of traffic”.

He said there had been an “aborted” police pursuit, which both officers were “not directly involved in”.

The inquest was told PC Blades’ provisional cause of death was head and neck injuries, while PC Clough’s provisional cause of death was given as neck injuries.

It was told PC Blades was identified by his wife and PC Clough by his partner.

The coroner reports were awaited on full post-mortem examinations into the men’s deaths, a report from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and a police collision report.

In short, consecutive hearings, the inquests were opened and adjourned.

A fundraising appeal set up by the Cleveland Police Federation for the two officers’ families has raised more than £1m.

Follow BBC Tees on X,, external Facebook, external, Nextdoor and Instagram, external and listen to Radio Tees on BBC Sounds.