A66 CRASH: NEW DETAILS COULD CHANGE THE STORY — POLICE PURSUIT WAS ABORTED BEFORE FATAL COLLISION

For days, the devastating A66 crash has been surrounded by one central question: What exactly happened in the final moments before seven people lost their lives?

Now, newly confirmed details from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) have added a significant twist to the timeline.

The police pursuit involving the Volkswagen Passat had been aborted before the fatal collision, according to the watchdog.

At the same time, another police vehicle was separately attempting to locate the Passat.

Only moments later, the Volkswagen was travelling the wrong way along the A66 when it collided head-on with a marked police vehicle carrying Cleveland Police officers PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough.

Both officers died in the crash, alongside the five young men travelling in the Passat.

The revelation does not answer every question.

Instead, it makes the sequence of events even more important.

THE PURSUIT HAD ALREADY BEEN ABORTED

The initial reports surrounding the tragedy described a police pursuit involving the Volkswagen Passat.

According to the IOPC, however, that pursuit was stopped after the Passat entered the A66 travelling against the flow of traffic.

An inquest later heard that the pursuit had been aborted before the Passat collided with a police vehicle that had not been directly involved in the earlier pursuit.

That distinction is crucial.

It means the vehicle carrying PC Blades and PC Clough was not simply the police car directly chasing the Passat at the moment of impact.

The officers had been responding to the wider search for the vehicle.

The exact movements of the different police vehicles — and the Passat — are now a key part of the investigation.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THOSE FINAL MOMENTS?

The fatal collision happened at around 3:39 a.m. on August 22 near South Bank, close to Middlesbrough.

The Volkswagen Passat was travelling in the wrong direction on the A66 when it collided with the marked armed-response vehicle.

Everyone inside both vehicles died at the scene.

The two police officers were later identified as 37-year-old PC Matthew Blades and 38-year-old PC Tom Clough.

The five people travelling in the Passat were Cole Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, Michael Cahill, 23, and Jakub Matusiak, 23.

The tragedy has left two families within Cleveland Police grieving, while families and friends of the five young men have also been mourning.

But the newly clarified timeline raises another issue.

If the original pursuit had already been called off, what was happening between the moment the pursuit ended and the moment the Passat struck the police vehicle?

That is one of the questions investigators must now establish.

THE POLICE CAR WAS NOT PART OF THE ORIGINAL PURSUIT

The distinction between the pursuing officers and the officers who were struck is one of the most important details to emerge.

PC Blades and PC Clough were travelling in a marked police vehicle that was not directly involved in the original pursuit.

They had been called to assist with efforts to locate the Passat.

According to earlier reporting, Cleveland Police had launched the pursuit after intelligence concerning a suspicious vehicle and a series of incidents.

The Passat had reportedly triggered an automatic number plate recognition camera and was believed to have been using cloned registration plates.

The situation then escalated dramatically.

The Passat entered the A66 against the flow of traffic.

The pursuit was abandoned.

And shortly afterwards, the Passat collided with the police vehicle.

That sequence is now central to the investigation.

WAS THE WRONG-WAY JOURNEY AN ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE?

This is where the developing timeline becomes particularly important.

The fact that the Passat was travelling the wrong way along the motorway is not in dispute.

But the latest information means it would be premature to simply describe the fatal collision as occurring during an active police chase.

The IOPC is investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash and police contact.

Its role is to establish what happened and examine the evidence surrounding the incident.

The investigation will therefore need to establish what happened after the pursuit was aborted, where the different police vehicles were positioned, what officers knew at the time and why the Passat continued travelling against the flow of traffic.

Those answers could significantly affect how the final moments of the tragedy are understood.

A WIDER CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION HAS ALSO EXPANDED

The A66 crash has also triggered a much wider investigation into suspected organised crime in the Middlesbrough area.

Police have made dozens of arrests since the incident.

By August 28, Cleveland Police said the total number of arrests connected to the wider investigation had reached 24. Several people had been arrested over allegations including organised crime, criminal property, drugs offences, threats and other serious matters.

Police have previously said the five young men travelling in the Passat may have had links to serious and organised criminal activity.

However, those arrests and allegations form a separate part of the wider investigation and should not be treated as proof of guilt.

The investigation into the crash itself remains a separate and critical question.

200 EXTRA OFFICERS AND £2 MILLION FUNDING

The aftermath has also prompted a major policing response across the region.

Around 200 officers from outside Cleveland Police have been drafted in to support the force as it deals with a wider series of serious incidents.

On September 1, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced an additional £2 million for Cleveland Police to tackle serious crime around Middlesbrough.

The announcement came as the region continued to deal with the consequences of the A66 tragedy and other incidents.

Meanwhile, public support for the families of the two officers has been enormous.

A Police Federation fundraiser for PC Blades and PC Clough passed £1.2 million before it closed, with a separate GoFundMe appeal also raising additional money.

THE FOCUS NOW TURNS TO THE TIMELINE

For the families, none of the unanswered questions can change what happened.

But for investigators, the precise timeline matters enormously.

The difference between an active pursuit and an aborted pursuit could be crucial when reconstructing the final seconds before the collision.

The IOPC’s investigation is therefore expected to examine not only the actions of the Passat, but also the decisions, communications and movements surrounding the police response.

The fatal collision claimed seven lives.

PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough were responding to a situation they were never expected to become part of in such a devastating way.

Their deaths, together with those of the five young men in the Passat, have left a community demanding answers.

And now, as investigators piece together the final moments, one question stands above the rest:

If the pursuit had already been called off, what happened next?

The answer could become one of the most important pieces of the A66 investigation.