A drug trafficker who sped away from police in a chase on the Meander Valley Highway and later rang police to tell them his car had been stolen was jailed this week.
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Luke Charles Howlett, 36, formerly of Legana, pleaded guilty to perverting justice on July 23, 2021.
The Launceston Magistrates court also heard that Howlett was caught with a 9-millimetre sub-machine gun, ammunition and silencer and a .22 Ruger pistol and a silencer in a rented apartment on April 11, 2023.
The court heard Howlett made false representations to police about his car to avoid charges of evading police, reckless driving, and driving without a licence.
Police saw Howlett's black Holden Commodore on Illawarra Rd before it turned onto the highway and travelled at speeds of up to 133 km/h past Entally House and Hadspen.
During the journey, he rang his then-girlfriend on his mobile phone, enabling police to identify where he had been because the calls bounced off towers at Hadspen and Longford.
He crossed double white lines, overtook on a hill, and overtook two vehicles in the face of oncoming traffic.
He was last seen at Traveller's Rest about 5 pm. His car was located within days.
At 7.10 pm, he rang the police saying the car had been stolen and, the next day, filled out a statutory declaration.
In June 2023, Howlett was sentenced in the Supreme Court to 21 months' jail for trafficking in a controlled substance and three months' jail for evading police about separate crimes on March 11, 2021.
On that occasion, Howlett drove at 171kmh on Meander Valley Rd to escape the police.
He had $5780 in cash, a .22 calibre revolver, machete, knuckledusters and drugs worth up to $300,000 in a backpack when police caught up with him in Bracknell.
In 2022, he was sentenced to 10 months in jail for possessing two rifles and ammunition without a licence and evading police and drug charges.
The court heard that police searched Howlett's room at the Central Apartments Hotel on April 11 2023, and found ice pipes, snaplock bags of ice and in a Nike bag a .22 Ruger pistol and suppressor and eight rounds of ammunition and the 9 mm submachine gun and 24 rounds of ammunition.
The possession of the weapons was a breach of a family violence order.
He possessed the submachine gun at a time when he was involved in drug trafficking.
The court heard that Howlett was eligible for parole in April 2024.
Magistrate Sharon Cure sentenced him to five months in jail but backdated the starting date to January 1, 2024.
On the breach of family violence charges, a conviction was recorded and discharged.
She disqualified him from driving for two years.
Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
