A drugs courier was caught with nearly £85,000 of heroin and crack cocaine when he fell off his bike.
Craig Byatt was attempting to escape police along a canal towpath when he slipped and was arrested while carrying the illicit class A substances inside a sports bag. It came only months after he had led officers through the streets in a high speed car chase which ended in a crash.
Liverpool Crown Court heard this afternoon, Monday, that patrols spotted a grey Volkswagen Golf driving in the area of Walton Breck Road at around 4pm on August 24 last year. Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting, described how checks revealed that the car had no MOT, but when they attempted to stop the vehicle it "made off at speed" onto Taplow Street in Anfield.
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Motorist Byatt - of Anglesea Road in Walton - then turned left onto Breck Road, travelling in the direction of the city centre. The 39-year-old was observed driving "erratically and aggressively" at speeds of up to 60mph in a 30mph zone, "travelling over traffic calming measures", "forcing his way" into junctions and leaving others needing to take evasive action in order to avoid a collision.
Police then lost sight of the car, with Byatt's passenger having fled once they had caught up with him again. But he crashed into the back of another vehicle on York Terrace in Everton, causing "significant damage" and injuring two women inside.
Officers located the defendant "running and out of breath" nearby, at which point he admitted his involvement in the incident. Byatt tested positive for having cannabis in his system at the roadside and was subsequently found to be over the legal limit once in custody, while he was already banned from the roads due to previous convictions for dangerous driving.
Then, after being released under investigation, the father-of-three was one of two males on "high-powered, expensive" electric bikes who made off from police on Great Howard Street at around 11.30am on March 22 this year. He was seen attempting to flee via the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, but fell off his e-bike as he did so.
Byatt was found to be carrying a sports bag containing a quarter of a kilogram of cocaine of 77 per cent purity, worth up to £24,000 at street level, plus a kilo of heroin of 53 per cent purity and valued at up to £60,000. Two mobile phones were also located in the bag, but he refused to provide pin.
The detainee stated that he was "just the courier" when he was held. Byatt has a total of 26 previous convictions for 53 offences, including receiving 10 months for possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply in 2001 and being disqualified for drug driving in January this year following a separate incident in August 2022.
Mr Hopkins said: "The crown say he is highly trusted to be trusted to move drugs of that value. There must have been an inference of some expectation of significant financial reward."
Tom Watson, defending, told the court that Byatt had racked up a drug debt and also inherited debts owed to criminals by his late uncle, with his usage of heroin and crack cocaine having increased after the deaths of this "father figure" and his client's sister. He added: "People can get hurt with that type of driving and I do not trivialise it at all.
"Blind panic caused him to drive as he did. It is not the first time he has driven dangerously, and the court will be seriously unimpressed.
"The most serious matter, of course, is this large amount of class A drugs. He is given a bike and he is told to take it.
"Sadly, these people have their hooks in his uncle and in this defendant. He understand what he has got involved in.
"They know where he lives, they know where his family lives, they know where his three children are. He is taking all of the risk.
"He has never been truly able to throw off his addiction to drugs. What really impacted, one after the other, were family tragedies.
"He thought he had, to an extent, put this type of life behind him. The impact of those deaths rather catapulted him back into heroin and, in particular, crack cocaine.
"He feels desperately sorry for what he has brought about for his family. The best he can do at this moment in time is treat this time positively.
"He is a man who can stay out of trouble, and he says he is going to be staying out of trouble. He can't ever do this to his family again - they don't deserve this."
Byatt admitted possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, drug driving and driving without insurance. Appearing via video link to HMP Altcourse, he was jailed for five years.
Sentencing, Judge Gary Woodhall said: "I am to sentence you for your second set of class A drug dealing offences, your third offence for dangerous driving and your second drug driving conviction. You had to have been trusted, given the amount you were involved in transporting from one place to another."
Byatt was also disqualified from driving for a further four-and-a-half years. Forfeiture of the bike and destruction of the drugs was ordered.
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