Two police officers killed in wrong-way crash died from head and neck injuries

Undated handout photos originally issued on 23/08/26 by Cleveland Police of PC Tom Clough (left) and PC Matthew Blades, who died when a car going in the wrong direction hit a police car on the A66 near Middlesbrough. Inquests will open on Thursday for the two police officers and five young men who died in a head-on collision on the A66. The hearings come as detectives continue to question two men who were arrested on suspicion of murder after a house fire in Grangetown, around a mile from the crash site, killed two people, including a child, on Wednesday morning. Issue date: Thursday August 27, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Cleveland Police/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
PC Tom Clough (left) and PC Matthew Blades (right) lost their lives (Picture: PA)

Two police officers died from head and neck injuries after their marked vehicle was hit by a car going the wrong way down a dual carriageway, an inquest opening has heard.

PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, died in a head-on collision on the A66 near Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Today, inquests into their deaths were opened and adjourned at Teesside Coroner’s Court.

In short hearings, coroner Paul Appleton said PC Blades was identified by his wife, and PC Clough by his partner.

The provisional cause of death was said to be head and neck injuries for PC Blades, and neck injuries for PC Clough.

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Mr Appleton said that in the early hours of August 22 there was a collision on the A66 at South Bank between a police vehicle and a Volkswagen Passat.

He told the hearing that ‘all occupants of both vehicles were sadly pronounced dead at the scene’.

Mr Appleton said: ‘At this stage it is understood that there had been a police pursuit of the Volkswagen Passat.

‘It entered the A66 carriageway against the flow of traffic, at which stage the pursuit was aborted.

‘A short time after … the Volkswagen Passat collided with a police vehicle, which had not been directly involved in the prior pursuit.’

Later today, inquests will open into the deaths of Cole Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, and 23-year-olds Michael Robert Cahill and Jacob Matusiak – who were in the Passat and pronounced dead at the scene.

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