Overview
- A house blaze on Birchington Avenue that broke out on Wednesday, August 26 killed seven-year-old Valentina Foster and her aunt Natalie McDonald and left four other people injured.
- Cleveland Police launched a murder investigation and initially arrested two men aged 23 and 31, with the 31-year-old now released without charge and the 23-year-old remaining in custody for questioning.
- The 23-year-old, named in court as Jaden Wright, appeared at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on August 29 charged with grievous bodily harm and intentional strangulation in a separate alleged incident and was remanded to police custody.
- A 48-year-old woman is being treated in the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle in a critical but stable condition and a 27-year-old man is receiving care at James Cook University Hospital while two teenage girls injured in the fire have been discharged.
- Police say the property remains structurally unstable while forensic teams work to make the scene safe for full evidence recovery and detectives continue enquiries as they stress there is no current link between the fire and the nearby A66 fatal collision.