Cleveland Police are also investigating another crash in which a vehicle hit the wall of a house in South Bank in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The property had been empty at the time and the force said it had "not yet been confirmed whether this incident is linked to wider organised crime".

On Wednesday, Natalie McDonald, 34, died along with her seven-year-old niece Valentina Foster in the fire in Grangetown.

Natalie's mother, Lisa Kirton, described her as "a beautiful soul, who would have done anything for anybody".

Valentina, who was known as Tina, was staying at the house for the summer holidays and had been "dancing around the living room" only the previous night.

Lisa said Natalie's 15-year-old daughter and a friend had managed to escape after the friend "kicked out a window" upstairs.

Natalie's brother, Josh Kirton, said she had not been involved with "anything to do with gangs" or the crash on the A66.

"That's what makes this so senseless," he said.

"There's some terrible people in the world and now my sister and Valentina have gone."

The fire also left a 48-year-old woman in a critical condition in hospital, while another three people suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Two men, aged 23 and 31, were arrested on suspicion of murder and remained in custody.

Cleveland Police said it was "keeping an open mind" about the fire and said it could not "rule out any links to wider organised crime at this time".

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