Men threw £2k worth of drugs from speeding car during Wolverhampton police chase
Two men who threw £2,000 worth of drugs from a speeding car while trying to escape from police were starting prison sentences totalling over eight years today.
Michael Cunningham and his friend Shaun Gardner fled after their blue Ford Fiesta was blocked in by police who had been on the look out for the vehicle after it was ‘tagged’ as linked to drug dealing, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
The police car blocked its exit from Cartwright Street, All Saints but as one of the officers got out to question the occupants Cunningham threw the Fiesta into reverse and sped away in the wrong direction down the one way street, explained Mr Josh Scouller, prosecuting.
The car reached up to 83mph in a 40 limit during a frantic attempt to out pace the pursing patrol car but was finally stopped in the Goldthorn Park area of Wolverhampton.
Members of the public had seen items being hurled from the vehicle as it raced down Drayton Road, Blakenhall, earlier in the chase and handed them to officers after the pursuit ended.
The packages contained a total of 82 street deals of heroin and cocaine along with three cling film parcels of drugs, continued Mr Scouller.
A lock knife belonging to Cunningham was found hidden in the driver’s footwell of the Fiesta after the lunch time chase on October 12. More drugs and around £5,000 cash were discovered during a subsequent search of Gardner’s family home, said the prosecutor.
Cunningham was the subject of a suspended sentence for producing cannabis when the chase took place while Gardner had a dozen previous convictions involving 24 separate offences, four of which were drug related.
The 34-year-old had turned to street dealing in a bid to pay off £4,000 worth of debts and fines after losing his taxi driving job, said Mr Oliver Woolhouse, defending, who explained: "He was given a chance to get out of the hole he was in, and very foolishly took it."
Father of one Cunningham confessed: "I was in financial difficulty and was paid to drive. I knew what I was doing."
The 24-year-old from Broad Lanes, Bilston and Gardner of Silver Birch Road, Parkfields both pleaded guilty to possession of heroin and cocaine with intent to supply. Cunningham further admitted dangerous driving, possession of a knife and breaking the terms of a suspended sentence.
He was jailed for four years five months with a two year driving ban on release while Gardner was locked up for three years nine months.
Recorder Stephen Thomas told them: “Neither of you had a drug addiction. You were street dealing purely for money and threw £2,000 worth of the drugs into the street during the police pursuit.”
