The pain of losing him is beyond words… The widow of an officer killed in the devastating A66 crash has spoken of her unbearable grief as new details emerge about one of the teenagers involved. The teen was reportedly awaiting trial over allegations of racially abusing and assaulting police officers before the crash that claimed 7 lives, including 2 officers. But as the grieving family tries to come to terms with a loss that can never be repaired, one detail from the teenager’s past has now cast the tragedy in an even darker light… 👇
**Teen joyrider killed in A66 police car crash was awaiting trial for racially abusing and assaulting officers, it’s revealed, as grieving widow of cop who died in carnage says ‘the pain of losing him is beyond words’**
One of the five young men killed when a Volkswagen Passat careered the wrong way down the A66 and smashed into a police car was awaiting trial for racially abusing and assaulting Cleveland Police officers, it has been revealed.
Makai Saddington, 18, of no fixed address, was among the occupants of the vehicle that collided head-on with a marked armed-response car in the early hours of Saturday 22 August 2026 near Middlesbrough. The crash claimed seven lives in total: Saddington and four others in the Passat — Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Jacob Matusiak, 23, Theo Rae, 17, and Cole Robert Worthy, 17 — along with PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38.
Saddington had been charged with assaulting Sergeant Rooker of Cleveland Police and causing racially aggravated alarm or distress to PC Chowdhury. He made his first appearance at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on 17 July, when the case was adjourned. The alleged offences were said to have occurred in June. The trial never took place.
The disclosure comes as the families of the two officers have begun to share the depth of their grief. PC Blades’ widow released a heartbreaking statement that has resonated across the country. “No words will ever feel like the right words to honour our Matt,” she said. “My beloved husband, my best friend, and the most devoted father to our two young boys. He was an adored son and brother, a perfect son-in-law, and the most fun uncle. He was loved beyond words by all his family and friends, and his loss has left a space that can never be filled.
“He gave his life in the line of duty, protecting and serving others with courage, dedication and selflessness. The pain of losing him is beyond words, and our lives will never be the same. Neither will the love he gave us ever fade. Our children will grow up knowing what an incredible father he was and will always be, and I will carry his love, his memory and everything we shared with me always.”
PC Clough’s family described him as “our hero with a fantastic sense of humour” who “jumped into action whenever needed, and [was] willing to help anyone for any reason.” They recalled that he had “proudly fought for his country to make the world a better place” and had spent his short life “always on public duty.” The family and Tom’s partner expressed deep gratitude for the overwhelming support they had received from friends, colleagues and the wider community.
A GoFundMe appeal launched by the Cleveland Police Federation to support the bereaved families had already raised more than £245,000 by Monday morning, a stark measure of the public’s desire to stand with those left behind.
**The sequence of the fatal night**
The tragedy unfolded shortly after 3.30am. Cleveland Police officers had begun pursuing a Volkswagen Passat believed to be displaying cloned number plates and linked to a series of suspicious incidents. An automatic number-plate recognition system had flagged the vehicle. The pursuit lasted just under seven minutes and took the cars through residential streets in the Middlesbrough area.
Ring-doorbell cameras captured the Passat racing at high speed along Lime Road in Teesville at approximately 3.36am, police vehicles close behind with lights flashing. Residents later described the noise and vibration as frightening. One local said the car appeared to be travelling at between 80 and 100 mph on a narrow residential road.
When the Passat entered the A66 and began travelling against the flow of traffic, officers aborted the chase. Approximately ten seconds later, at about 3.39am, the vehicle collided head-on with a different marked police armed-response car that was travelling in the correct direction. That second police vehicle, carrying PC Blades and PC Clough, had been in the area to assist with the search for the Passat. All seven people were pronounced dead at the scene in South Bank.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has opened a mandatory investigation into the circumstances of the incident.
**Social media and a dangerous trend**
In the days since the crash, a series of social-media clips linked to some of those who died have circulated widely. Saddington had posted material appearing to show him involved in high-speed police chases in the months before his death. One clip filmed in May showed him as a passenger in an Audi being driven at speed through a housing estate while a police car followed with blue lights activated. The vehicle then appeared to cut across a grassy playing field.
Other footage associated with the group showed reckless driving, including a clip in which a car is driven through a neighbourhood before swerving onto a green and then down a footpath, the driver spinning the wheel with one hand while filming. Separate images depicted young men posing in cars while wearing black balaclavas. One video linked to an account connected to the group showed a green Nissan being driven around before it was set alight.
These clips have been widely interpreted as part of a broader and deeply troubling TikTok-fuelled trend in which young men film themselves driving dangerously, sometimes in stolen or cloned vehicles, and deliberately attempt to provoke police pursuits for the sake of online attention and status. Experts in cyber-psychology have noted that participants often appear to have “one foot in the real world and one foot in cyberspace,” prioritising likes and kudos over the catastrophic risks involved.
The A66 tragedy came only six days after a strikingly similar incident in County Kildare, Ireland, in which five teenagers died when a stolen BMW they were travelling in the wrong way down the M9 collided with another car. Three of those teenagers had been wearing balaclavas and filming themselves. Innocent members of a family travelling to a wedding were seriously injured. The parallel has intensified calls for social-media platforms to take stronger action against content that glorifies dangerous driving and police baiting.
**Tributes and the human cost**
Beyond the formal statements, the human cost of the A66 crash is measured in the everyday details of the lives that have been shattered. PC Blades had recently begun coaching the under-sevens team at Seaton Carew FC, the same side in which his own young son played. He was remembered as a devoted family man whose absence will be felt most acutely by his wife and two boys.
PC Clough, a former soldier who had also served with the British Transport Police, was recalled as someone who combined humour with an unwavering readiness to help others. His family’s description of him as a man who spent his life “always on public duty” captures both the pride and the pain of those left behind.
Cleveland Police Federation summarised the loss with stark simplicity: the two officers “left their families and went to work to serve their community and protect the public. They paid the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. They did not return home to their families. They leave behind heartbroken loved ones who will struggle to come to terms with the loss.”
For the families of the five young men in the Passat, grief is complicated by the public scrutiny that has followed the revelation of Saddington’s pending court case and the online material associated with the group. Some relatives and friends have posted private tributes focusing on the individuals they knew rather than the circumstances of their deaths.
**Questions that remain**
The IOPC investigation will examine the intelligence that led officers to pursue the Passat, the decisions taken during the seven-minute chase, the moment the pursuit was aborted, and the positioning of the second police vehicle that was struck. Questions about the use of cloned plates, the prevalence of high-speed joyriding in the region, and the influence of social-media trends will form part of the wider public conversation.
The fact that one of those killed was already before the courts for violence and racial abuse directed at police officers has sharpened debate about bail, repeat offending, and the challenges faced by forces dealing with individuals who appear to show contempt for the law and for those who enforce it.
Yet at the centre of the story remain two families who have lost husbands, fathers and sons, and five other families who have lost young men in the most sudden and violent of circumstances. PC Blades’ widow’s words — “the pain of losing him is beyond words” — capture a grief that no investigation, no policy review, and no amount of public fundraising can fully ease.
As floral tributes continue to appear near the crash site and at police stations across Cleveland, and as the GoFundMe total climbs, the community is left to confront a single, brutal truth: on a dark stretch of dual carriageway in the early hours of a Saturday morning, seven lives ended in seconds because a car full of young men chose to drive the wrong way at high speed. Two police officers who had gone to work to protect others never came home. And a grieving widow is left to raise two young boys while carrying a love and a loss that, in her own words, will never fade.
