by Keith Hunt

Police stopped a car on a motorway and seized two large bags of skunk cannabis worth over £38,000 on the street, a court heard.

Officers had been tracking the Range Rover and carried out a "rolling stop" on the M25 near Clacket Lane services, Westerham.

Police cars gradually slowed down the traffic before pouncing and arresting the driver and passenger.

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court was shown film of the incident taken from a police helicopter on December 10 last year.

Patrick Mullen, prosecuting, said the driver of the car, Lee Jones, tried to escape by jumping over the barrier of the central reservation, running across the road and into woods.

But officers gave chase and caught him.

Meanwhile, the car owner, Darren Simpson, 42, remained in the passenger seat. Officers opened the door and were met with an overpowering smell of the strong cannabis.

When the boot was opened, a bin liner was stuffed with 4.48 kilos and in another bag just under one kilo.

"The Crown say these are not just people who have a little bit of cannabis for personal use," said the prosecutor. "This was clearly a commercial enterprise."

They were returning, he said, when they were stopped on the M25. He denied knowing the drug was in the car.

Simpson, of Thanet Road, Ramsgate, denied possessing drugs with intent to supply, claiming he did not know the drug was in the car, but was convicted.

He will be sentenced on September 16 with Jones, 44, of Harbour Mews, Broadstairs, who admitted the charge.