Ex-RGC rugby captain turned drug dealer led police on 139mph motorway chase

Maredudd Francis, 31, of Coed Aben, Wrexham, was jailed for 40 months for possession of cocaine with intent to supply and for 12 months consecutively for dangerous driving
-Credit:North Wales Police


A former rugby player turned drug dealer drove at up to 139mph on a motorway as he tried to escape police. Packages were thrown out of his car before he collided with another car, injuring its passenger.

Maredudd Francis, 31, a former RGC rugby team captain, admitted possession with intent to supply cocaine and cannabis and dangerous driving. He was jailed at Mold Crown Court today for a total of four and a half years.

A judge told him he should know the harm drugs cause. Prosecutor Joshua Gorst told how a police officer on mobile patrol, acting on information that it may be involved in drug offending, decided to stop a grey BMW car on the M56 motorway on Sunday, September 29 last year. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here

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It was driven by the defendant, of Coed Aben, Wrexham, as he drove from Manchester towards North Wales near Junction 11, which is near Preston Brook. Francis failed to stop and packages were thrown out of his passenger window.

He reached a speed of 139mph, said the prosecutor. He came off the motorway at Junction 11. But he ran a red light and narrowly missed an HGV lorry.

The court heard Francis went to go back onto the M56 heading east but collided with a Toyota Hilux car at a roundabout. The police officer described a passenger, who got out of the Toyota, as "walking wounded".

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Francis' BMW crashed into a safety barrier and he got out. He knelt down and put his hands into the small of his back and was arrested.

The prosecutor said his eyes were bloodshot and glazed and there was a strong smell of cannabis. The officer believed he was under the influence of drugs.

The officer searched the BMW and found £2,000 in cash and a receipt for a bicycle worth £3,481. Later police searched Francis' one-bedroomed ground floor flat in Coed Aben.

They found a Rolex watch and other designer goods. There were also several bags of white powder which was identified as 668.5g of cocaine with 80 or 81 per cent purity. Police found other drugs and a total of £18,121.96 in cash including the money in the car.

Philip Tully, defending, said Francis accepts he was supplying at street level and is remorseful. He had been "foolish" to drive away from the police officer.

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The judge His Honour Judge Parry said: "I suspect I don't need to tell you the harm that these drugs cause in our communities not only to our health but to householders, businesses." He also falls to be sentenced for possession with intent to supply £3,500 of a Class B drug.

Francis was jailed for 40 months for possession of cocaine with intent to supply and for 12 months consecutively for dangerous driving, making a total of four years and four months' imprisonment. He is banned from driving for two years on his release and must pass an extended retest.

There was no separate penalty for the Class B offence. The court heard there will be a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing later this year.