It’s been three days since seven people died in a horrific car crash in Middlesbrough - two of them serving police officers.

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People up and down the country will have asked themselves, like I did: what went wrong? How did this end so badly that seven souls were taken?

We may never know why this tragedy happened. Why this particular police pursuit ended in seven empty beds, seven funerals and seven devastated families. Their pain is undoubtedly immeasurable.

What I do know is that if the occupants of the car responsible for the crash had looked different, we’d be reckoning with a very different political reality right now.

A quick glance at their criminal records paints a pretty ugly picture. Four out of the five already had numerous convictions under their belt ranging from assault, drug possession, vehicle theft, carrying knives, shoplifting, assaulting police officers, racial harassment...the list goes on.

Resurfaced social media videos that emerged in the wake of the crash show some of those involved joyriding at dangerous speeds down streets, on footpaths and through parks with no regard for public safety at all.

Growing up in the North East, I knew plenty of boys who lived life in this way. I’d be forced to sit next to them in school to make them less disruptive and better behaved - to my own detriment. They could be obnoxious, careless and cruel. The ones I knew lacked social awareness or thought about the ability to understand how their........

© LBC