Cardiff riots news latest: Ely car crash deaths CCTV appears to show police van chase bike moments before

Newly-emerged footage appears to show a police vehicle driving behind two people on an electric bike minutes before a fatal crash which sparked a riot in Cardiff.

South Wales Police indicated it will review the footage and has made a mandatory self-referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct watchdog after the events of Monday evening, but said there were no police vehicles on the road of the crash when it took place.

Two teenage boys – Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and his friend Harvey Evans, 15 – were killed in the crash in Ely, which police said was followed by “large-scale disorder” in which 15 officers were injured, with cars torched and fireworks set off.

Andy Gregory and Tara Cobham have the latest.

The police watchdog has announced it will send investigators to assess whether it will carry out an independent probe into a crash in Cardiff which killed two teenagers and sparked a riot.

Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15, were killed in the Ely area on Monday while riding an electric bike.

Chief Superintendent of South Wales Police Martyn Stone told a press conference in Cardiff on Tuesday that a “mandatory referral” had been made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) following the disorder to “ensure the matter receives independent scrutiny”.

The mother of one of the teenagers whose deaths in a road accident sparked a riot begged for a stop to the violence – as her son’s body lay in the street where he died.

Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and 15-year-old Harvey Evans were killed in the Ely area of Cardiff while riding an electric bike.

At around midnight Belinda Sullivan, Kyrees’s mother, pleaded with the rioters to stop because her son’s body remained at the scene of the collision.

Writing on Facebook, she said: “My son is still laying on the floor due to this riot.

“I’m sat at home heart broken.

“There are two families broken right now I just want to see my son and I can’t because of this riot that has happened.

“Please I beg you all to stop and let my son be moved to hospital so I can see him we need to see our sons.”

CCTV footage shows a police van following an electric bike minutes before a fatal crash which sparked a night of riots in Cardiff, Wales.

The footage, obtained by Wales News, shows the bike being followed by the vehicle on Frank Road, Ely, less than a mile from the collision site.

A disabled woman has said she is now “trapped” after rioters torched her car during violent clashes in Cardiff overnight.

Trouble started on Monday evening after a serious crash on Snowdon Road in the Ely area in which two teenagers died.

Clashes continued into the early hours of Tuesday morning, with people throwing fireworks and other missiles at riot police.

South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Alun Michael declined to comment on footage in which a police van can be seen following two people on either a moped or electric bike, apparently minutes before the crash.

He said to the BBC on Tuesday: “You should examine the carefully-worded statement from the chief superintendent.”

Earlier Mr Michael had denied a police chase.

“It would appear that there were rumours, and those rumours became rife, of a police chase, which wasn’t the case and I think it illustrates the speed with which rumours can run around with the activity that goes on social media nowadays, and that events can get out of hand,” he said on BBC Radio 4.

A crash that killed two teenagers appears to have “sparked” the rioting in Cardiff on Monday night, the Police and Crime Commissioner in South Wales has said.

Police faced what they called a “large scale disorder” after receiving reports of a collision on Snowden Rd in Ely around 6pm, with tensions reaching breaking point as cars were set on fire and fireworks were shot at officers.

Alun Michael told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday morning: “My understanding is that there was a road traffic accident involving two teenagers on an off-road bike or scooter and sadly, they died. That’s an incident obviously that is being investigated in its own right.

“And that appears to have sparked, for reasons that aren’t clear, the disorder… in which something like a dozen officers were injured.

“Fortunately, none of them life-threatening, and the connection between the two is far from clear.”

South Wales Police confirmed on Tuesday that it has received CCTV footage that shows a police van following a bike ahead of a fatal collision that killed the two teenagers.

Earlier Mr Michael had denied a police chase.

“It would appear that there were rumours, and those rumours became rife, of a police chase, which wasn’t the case and I think it illustrates the speed with which rumours can run around with the activity that goes on social media nowadays, and that events can get out of hand,” he said on BBC Radio 4.

The police watchdog has announced it will send investigators to assess whether it will carry out an independent probe into a crash in Cardiff which killed two teenagers and sparked a riot.

Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15, were killed in the Ely area on Monday while riding an electric bike.

Chief Superintendent of South Wales Police Martyn Stone told a press conference in Cardiff on Tuesday that a “mandatory referral” had been made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) following the disorder to “ensure the matter receives independent scrutiny”.