A DRUGS courier has been jailed after he tried to escape police by driving off the A38 Devon Expressway onto the grass verge.

Ronald Tumbare was transporting £50,000 worth of heroin from Liverpool to Plymouth when police tried to box him in with a rolling road block near Buckfastleigh. 

He escaped from the three police cars by undertaking a lorry, driving off the dual carriageway onto the grass bank on the left hand side and then rejoining the road 200 metres further on.

Tumbare weaved through traffic at 80mph as he tried to avoid being boxed in again. He only stopped when he was rammed into the central reservation as he tried to escape the police cars.

Dramatic dash cam footage showed smoke pouring from his engine after he crashed into the barrier and police jumped onto the bonnet of his car to reach the driver’s window and stop him getting out.

The crash caused £5,000 damage to the police car and left its driver with an elbow injury which is still being treated two months later.

Tumbare is a Zimbabwean who has overstayed his visa and agreed to do the drugs run for £1,000 because he needed the cash to apply for a visa extension.

He had worked as a taxi driver and care worker in Liverpool and was desperate to stay in contact with other members of his family now living in Britain.

Tumbare, aged 28, of Stanley Road, Liverpool, admitted possession of heroin with intent to supply and dangerous driving.

He was jailed for three years and ten months and banned from driving for a year after his release by Judge Peter Johnson at Exeter Crown Court. It will be up to the Border Agency to decide whether he should be deported.

The judge told him: ‘You made a determined effort to get away from the police. You drove onto the verge and made off at excessive speeds, weaving from side to side in a desperate attempt to avoid capture.

‘You knew these were police cars and knew full well you had drugs in your possession, which was why you were trying to get away. You damaged a police car and injured an officer.’

Miss Victoria Bastock, prosecuting, said the pursuit happened on the A 38 between Exeter and Plymouth on the morning of October 6 this year.

A bag containing 499 grams of heroin was found on the passenger seat. The drugs were worth £12,000 wholesale or £50,000 in street deals. He said he was paid £1,000 for the trip and thought he was carrying steroids.

He told police he needed the money because his visa had run out and he needed £2,000 to get a new one.

Mr Lee Bremridge, defending, said Tumbare is a hard-working man who had been employed as a carer and driver and wanted to remain in Britain to be near his family.