Father of A66 crash teen pleads guilty to attacking celebrant who left him out of son's eulogy

From the Newshound archive · first published 3 October 2026.

Gye Worthy, 40, admitted assaulting funeral celebrant Paul Maull, 46, after Maull's eulogy for 17-year-old Cole Worthy named the boy's stepfather but not his biological father. Worthy also pleaded guilty to obstructing police officers called to Teesside Crematorium on September 9. Cole's mother Natalie McConnell was said to be devastated by the disruption to her son's memorial. Worthy is to be sentenced at Teesside Magistrates' Court on October 27.

Cole Worthy was killed alongside four young men and two Cleveland Police officers when their VW Passat drove the wrong way into a marked police car on the A66 on August 22.

The chain of events that led to the crash began when Worthy's Middlesbrough home was rammed by a Volvo in the early hours of that same morning, in an attack believed to have been directed at Cole.

Cole's mother and Gye Worthy had long been separated and both had new partners, adding to the raw tensions that erupted at the crematorium.