
Tribute row sparks political clash over A66 crash victims
A row erupted after Home Office minister Anna Turley paid tribute to all seven victims of the A66 crash near Middlesbrough, with critics arguing she equated two police officers with the five men in the other car; Turley says Cleveland Police asked her to honour all victims and rejected any moral equivalence. The crash killed two officers, PCs Matthew Blades and Tom Clough, and five young men, and investigators say the incident involved serious criminal activity and cloned plates; police have made multiple arrests as the probe into possible organised crime continues.