Police in crime-plagued Middlesbrough have been accused of 'going soft' on knife-wielding thugs after it was revealed that they can avoid jail if they accept mental health support.Cleveland Police lets those who admit possessing blades or drugs escape prosecution if they agree to seek help for the 'root causes of their offending behaviour'.Last night Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp described the practice as 'soft justice at its worst', adding: 'Criminals should face prosecution and prison, not a cosy chat with a counsellor.'The details emerged after thugs torched cars in a sick tribute to one of the A66 crash gang, prompting Andy Preston, the town's former mayor, to claim 'untouchables' controlled the streets.He said 'soft justice' had created a criminal underbelly who, instead of being locked up, had 'ruined, polluted and tortured' the lives of the law-abiding majority.Last week's disorder began when five delinquents crashed their stolen car into a police vehicle while speeding the wrong way up a dual carriageway, killing themselves and two officers. Police are investigating whether the spate of violence, including the crash that killed PC Matthew Blades, PC Tom Clough and the five joyriders, is linked to organised crime.Middlesbrough, which has the highest crime rate in England bar central London, was rocked again when a seven-year-old girl, Valentina Foster, and her aunt, Natalie McDonald, 34, died in a house fire. Two men were arrested on suspicion of murder. Participants in Divert are required to first admit their offending, then show remorse and finally sign a pledge promising not to reoffend Police at the scene of the fatal crash on the A66 in South Bank near Middlesbrough last Saturday. Violence broke out in Teesside after the tragedy Although police did not link the blaze to the A66 crash, they did not rule out a connection to wider organised crime. Barely 24 hours later, armed police were responding to another serious incident in Middlesbrough, with claims of a machete attack that left a man with stab wounds.Seven more men were later held as part of a broader operation to disrupt organised crime, taking the total number of arrests to 24.Mr Philp said the outbreak of gang violence in Cleveland required 'a zero-tolerance approach to crime and criminals'.The Telegraph reported yesterday that the Cleveland Police programme, Divert, which started in 2018 and has had 1,853 participants up to 2025, allows criminals arrested for possessing weapons or drugs or found to be shoplifting to avoid criminal charges.One document reads: 'Cleveland Divert aims to steer first-time and low-level offenders away from the criminal justice system and towards support.'It also signposts offenders towards help to address the problems which lead to offending. Instead of charging and prosecuting offenders, Divert provides a range of support – known as pathways. They include help with mental health, substance misuse, education or housing problems.' Pc Matthew Blades (pictured), a father of two, was killed when his police vehicle was struck head-on by a stolen VW Passat travelling the wrong way down the A66 near Middlesbrough Pc Tom Clough (pictured) also died in the crash, which occurred around ten seconds after a police pursuit of the Volkswagen had been called offParticipants must admit their offending, show remorse and sign a statement vowing not to reoffend. The scheme, run in partnership with the Probation Service, can require criminals to 'repay the community' and meet their victims, but neither is compulsory.It has been championed by Matt Storey, the Labour Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland, who has credited it with cutting reoffending rates. Only 4.7 per cent of Divert participants reoffend, compared with 32.9 per cent of all criminals in the area.Mr Preston said: 'What we're seeing now is the product of years of being soft, years of being desensitised.' But current mayor Chris Cooke said crime had dropped in the past two years.