A house rammed by a car before the fatal A66 crash in Middlesbrough belonged to the father of a teenager who died in the incident.

Cole Worthy was one of five young men in a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way down the A66 who were killed when it hit a Cleveland Police armed response vehicle in the early hours of Saturday, also killing two police officers.

The force said that morning, and the previous night, it had received multiple reports of two cars driving dangerously around the town and a Volvo XC60, believed to be linked to the Passat, was seen ramming properties in the town.

There is no suggestion the 17-year-old’s father was involved in criminal activity.

PC Tom Clough, 38, and PC Matthew Blades, 37, died in the crash, as did Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Jacob Matusiak, 23, Makai Saddington, 18, Theo Rae, 17, and 17-year-old Cole Robert Worthy.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct said officers had been pursuing the Passat for almost seven minutes after it was connected to earlier alleged criminal activity, but the pursuit was abandoned 10 seconds before the crash when it turned on to the dual carriageway.

Both vehicles were operating with cloned number plates but were picked up by automated number plate recognition technology.

The red bricked semi-detached house a quiet residential street in Acklam hit by the Volvo is significantly damaged.

The downstairs bay window has been smashed, with bricks scattered beneath it, and an upstairs bedroom window has been broken also.

The BBC understands the car rammed the property in the early hours of Saturday and Cole and the four other young men killed in the crash on the A66 set out in a VW Passat a short time later.

Neighbours did not want to be identified but one described hearing loud bangs at around two in the morning on Saturday. Another said the street had been full of police all weekend.

Nine men and three women, aged between 19 and 61, were arrested across Teesside on Monday on suspicion of a range of offences, including possession of a firearm and being part of an organised crime group.

Cleveland Police said a 16-year-old boy and two men, 18 and 21, were arrested on suspicion of participating in an organised crime group. A 55-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and a 23-year-old man on suspicion of making threats to kill.

Two men have also been charged, one for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, and one with possession with intent to supply class A and class B drugs and possession of criminal property.

All five of the newly arrested men remain in custody.

Twelve arrests had already been made, bringing the total to 17.

Those previously arrested as part of the investigation are:

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