‘This place might look bad but it’s not’: fear and hope in Middlesbrough community after week of violence

Nine people have died in events police had linked to organised crime in an area shaped by deprivation and fading opportunities, but there is light, say residents “This place might look bad but it’s not, the people are good people,” said one woman before turning to her young daughter and asking: “Is this place bad?” The girl shakes her head vigorously. It’s a difficult thing to say given the week’s events in Grangetown and South Bank on Teesside. Around the corner is the burned-out shell of a house that was deliberately set on fire on Wednesday, killing Natalie McDonald, 34, and her seven-year-old niece Valentina Foster. Metres away is the A66 where, less than a mile away on Saturday, a head-on crash killed seven people, including two police officers. Cleveland police had linked the crash to organised crime and initially said they could not rule out it also being connected to the house fire, but on Friday said there was no link. The news will be of no surprise to neighbours and well-wishers who this week gathered sombrely opposite the house in Birchington Avenue, Grangetown. They had already said there was no link. “It’s smackheads. That’s the problem round here,