A driver rammed a police car before climbing into the back seat of his SUV and pretending someone else had been behind the wheel.
Gareth Curnow had led police on a high-speed chase through Swansea before ramming a police vehicle as he tried to flee. The 42-year-old crashed moments later then clambered into the back of the car he was driving and tried to con cops that the real driver had fled on foot.
The chase happened just weeks after the defendant had appeared in court after being found in a car with cocaine, a knife, and a knuckleduster. Sending Curnow to prison a judge told him he needed to ask himself what he was doing in life, and why he was "putting his mother through the indignity of having to come to court and seeing you in the dock".
Swansea Crown Court that on the night of March 28 this year police officers in Llanelli had been looking for a Seat Ateca car which was believed to be showing cloned plates when the target vehicle was spotted on the Loughor Bridge heading towards Swansea.
Tom Scapens, prosecuting, said police followed the car as it headed east but did not attempt to stop it. However as the Seat approached Fforestfach it sped off, and a chase ensued. Curnow raced through several red traffic lights and mounted the pavement as he took junctions at speed, and at one stage he collided with a concrete bollard on Ystrad Road. The court heard the Seat then suddenly braked "for no reason" and came to a stop - the pursuing police units tried to block it in but the SUV rammed one of cop cars and drove off again. The rammed cop car was so badly damaged it was unable to continue with the pursuit. Other police units went after the fleeing Seat and found it crashed at the side of the road a short distance away.
The prosecutor said as officers approached the smashed car they saw a woman sat in the front passenger seat, and Curnow sat in the back - Curnow told officers the driver had got out and run off but in fact the driver's door was jammed shut due to collision damage. In the driver's door pocket police subsequently found a wrap of cocaine, and checks showed Curnow was a banned driver.
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The court heard that just weeks before the chase Curnow had appeared at Swansea Magistrates Court charged with possession of cocaine and possession of a knuckleduster and a knife. These charges related to an incident on Heol Awstin in the Ravenhill area of Swansea in January this year when the defendant had been found in a car with the items - and a set of digital weighing scales on his lap - by an officer who was patrolling known drug dealing hotspots.
Gareth David Curnow, of Carmarthen Road, Fforestfach, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine, possession of an offensive weapon, possession of a bladed article, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, driving without a licence, and driving without insurance when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has 18 previous convictions for 37 offences including possession of cocaine with intent to supply, driving while disqualified, driving while unfit through drugs, failing to report an accident, possession of cannabis, and matters of violence.
Dan Griffiths, for Curnow, said the defendant had been hoping to go to a rehab centre, and that a report prepared in regard to the January offending had put forward a constructive sentence - but the defendant had then "blown" that possible chance by committing the subsequent motoring offences. He said his client accepted that custody was probably the best place for him at the current time, and he said Curnow was "angry at himself for having let down his long-suffering mother" who was sat in the public gallery of the court.
Judge Huw Rees told Curnow that at the age of 42 he needed to ask himself what he was doing with life, and why he was "putting your mother through the indignity of having to come to court and seeing you in the dock". The judge said it was clear from what he had read that Curnow was not an unintelligent man, had taken steps to tackle his drug addictions, and was not a "hopeless case" - but he said custody in this case was inevitable.
Curnow was sentenced to a total of 18 months in prison comprising six months for the Ravenhill offences and 12 months for the driving matters to run consecutively. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. Curnow was disqualified from driving for three years, and the ban was extended by an extra nine months to account for the time he will be behind bars.
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