A vigil for five young men who died after driving the wrong way down the A66 and colliding head-on with a police car descended into chaos on Monday afternoon, as balaclava-clad attendees set off flares and fireworks in a field in South Bank, near Middlesbrough. The scene contrasted sharply with a solemn church service held nearby to remember PC Tom Clough and PC Matthew Blades, the two officers killed in the same crash, highlighting the deep divisions within the community over how the tragedy should be commemorated.

What began as a balloon release for Jakub Matusiak, 23, turned into a noisy gathering of around 20 masked youths on motorbikes and quad bikes, filling the field with flares and smoke, while a separate balloon release was held elsewhere in Middlesbrough for 17-year-old Cole Worthy. In total, seven people died in Saturday's collision, including PCs Blades and Clough, alongside Matusiak, Worthy, Theo Rae (17), Makai Saddington (18) and Michael Robert Cahill (23). Meanwhile, Redcar MP Anna Turley joined mourners for a quiet prayer vigil at St John The Evangelist Church, and Cleveland Police maintained a low-key presence near the joyriders' gathering, as some local residents criticised the tone of that event as disrespectful to the officers.