A DRUG dealer narrowly avoided hitting other cars as he led police on a chase through Swindon town centre, which included driving the wrong way down a one-way road and mounting a pavement to avoid being arrested.

Disqualified driver Billy Livingstone was jailed for three years and nine months after the chase through town on June 23, 2021. It followed a road rage incident which saw him stop in the middle of the road to confront another motorist.

The Coate man eventually dumped the Mercedes A200 hire car – taken without consent – on Northampton Street after its tyres were punctured by a police stinger. He took refuge in a nearby pub, where police later arrested him.

Livingstone, 22, had been driving along Drakes Way at Greenbridge Retail Park when he cut up an Audi A1, Swindon Crown Court heard on Thursday. The other driver beeped her horn, and as they got to the next roundabout she was cut up again, causing her to carry out an emergency stop.

Billy and his co-defendant cousin Connor Livingstone, whose sentencing was adjourned until March, got out of the car and walked “aggressively” up to the Audi, prosecutor Charley Pattinson said. Connor told the passenger in the Audi, to “get out of the f****** car”, and the court heard that the victims believed they had weapons.

After about 25 seconds, the cousins got back into the car, but the slow traffic meant they ended up side-by-side at the next set of traffic lights. Here, the driver said that Billy threw a water bottle at her window.

After a police officer spotted the Mercedes on Corporation Street, he tried to stop the vehicle, but he drove partially on the pavement to get away.

In the pursuit that followed, Livingstone, of Cromer Court, was involved in “highly aggressive” driving and “showed disregard for other road users”, Judge Peter Crabtree OBE said.

There was a near miss with another vehicle on Manchester Road, and the police officer who deployed a stinger feared for their own safety as the 22-year-old approached at “well in excess of 30mph”, as well as the numerous parents and children that were nearby.

The car was dumped on Northampton Street, near Drove Primary School, and the pair made their way to The Merlin pub, where they were arrested.

A total of £4,175 of cash – deemed criminal property by the court – was found on him, and a search of his address revealed almost 100 grams of heroin in street deal packages, worth more than £9,500. Cocaine and cannabis for personal use was also found.

Defending, Emma Handslip told the court that Livingstone had “slipped” into addiction on his previous release from prison, having been sentenced to two years in prison in 2018 for kidnapping a 13-year-old boy from McDonald's.

She said: “It is not accepted that this is his own line or he is running street dealers.

“This is somebody who was using cocaine and cannabis, and as is often the case he has got involved as a result of addiction and had a debt. It puts him in a trusted position with an amount of drugs, that he is holding for them and has benefited from that.”

She added that the threats in the road rage incident were not specifically made by Billy, and that he had “fallen through the cracks” with regard to a recent diagnosis of ADHD and a difficult upbringing.

“The odds have been stacked against him for a long time. He keeps trying and that is a credit to him.

“He will try and address the issues himself, and try and make the best of a bad situation. He is an articulate and intelligent individual.”

Sentencing, Judge Crabtree said that Livingstone’s behaviour had “scared and shocked” the occupants of the Audi, who were “locked in a car unable to move because of the traffic”.

“In essence, they were trapped.”

Appearing for sentence for a total of seven charges, including aggravated vehicle taking, driving whilst disqualified, affray and possession with the intent to supply heroin, Livingstone was jailed for a total of three years and nine months.

The drugs and cash were forfeited, whilst he was banned from driving for three years and 11 months.