Investigators looking into the Toller Lane death crash say early indications are that there was no contact between a speeding BMW and the unmarked police car that was pursuing it when it crashed into a tree.

Murtza Chaudhry, aged 21, Arbaaz Hussain also aged 21, Zeeshan Khalid, aged 20 and Tayyab Siddique, aged 22, all from Bradford, all died in the crash at around 5.30am on Thursday. Their identities were officially confirmed on Friday evening. A joint funeral will take place on Saturday afternoon, the T&A understands.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is investigating the crash.

In a statement on Friday evening they said that the grey BMW 1 Series car was pursued by an unmarked police car due to excessive speed.

They added: "We are aware that there is some concern that the police vehicle made contact with the BMW prior to the crash. Having reviewed some of the evidence already, we can confirm there is no indication of this. We can also confirm that time between the police car first having sight of the BMW and the collision with the tree is approximately one minute according to the evidence we have analysed so far.

"Our investigation will focus on the circumstances of the pursuit and the actions of the officers involved, who are all being treated as witnesses."

IOPC Regional Director Miranda Biddle said: “We have support in place for the families of those who have died. We have met with them to discuss our investigation and we will continue to update them about our work. My thoughts are with them, and all those affected by this incident including all emergency services involved.

“Our investigators attended the post mortems for the men who died. Both of the vehicles involved were removed from the scene and secured; a process overseen by our investigators. Both are now being forensically tested. This is a fast-moving investigation, and we have already conducted house to house enquiries and collated independent evidence including footage from the police car and local CCTV."

Ms Biddle also made an appeal for footage of the crash to be removed from the internet and sent to the IOPC.

She added: "I would like to ask for the privacy of the families to be respected at this most difficult time.”