A drug dealer led police on a high-speed chase then dumped the car and ran off into the night because he didn't want to miss his mother's funeral the next day, a court has heard. Kerry Hearne had been out selling crack cocaine in Swansea when cops tried to pull over his Mercedes. The convicted robber sped off before abandoning the vehicle – along with partner in crime and their stash of cocaine.
As well as selling cocaine Hearne was involved in dealing Valium tablets and boasted to fellow dealers who he was supplying that he had a contact involved in delivering medication to hospitals who could provide him with stock. Sian Cutter, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that the pursuit happened on the night of September 16 this year after police signalled for a Mercedes which was not being driven "to a very good standard" in Swansea city centre. The vehicle responded by racing off, going through a red light at the busy Dyfatty junction, and heading out of town on Llangyfelach Road.
With the police car following the fleeing Mercedes went through Brynhyfryd, Treboeth, and Llangyfelach – on occasions travelling on the wrong side of the carriageway at high speed – then went the wrong way around the roundabout at junction 46 of the M4 before heading for Morriston. The court heard the police deployed a stinger tyre-puncturing device near Morriston Golf Club in Clasemont Road which stopped the Mercedes. At this point the driver, later identified as Hearne, exited the vehicle and ran off into nearby gardens.
