Bootle man arrested on drugs charges after 10 years on the run

Mar 11 2010 by Laura Jones, Bootle Times

TEN years after a warrant was issued for his arrest, police officers in Bootle have tracked down a suspected drug dealer.

Steven Mercer, then 23, lived in Ronan Close, Bootle when he was arrested on suspicion of supplying class A drugs in April 2000.

On March 1 this year, two Bootle neighbourhood officers caught up with the suspect, now aged 33, at an address in Litherland.

Mercer had failed to turn up to answer the drug dealing charges against him at Bootle magistrates and a warrant was issued for his arrest a decade ago.

That warrant stood for 10 years until the law caught up with him.

Although Mercer could not be traced, officers continued their search for him, and when the warrant lapsed after five years, they applied to magistrates to have it re-issued.

Despite the time lapse Mercer’s name remained on the police radar and officers continued to follow up leads on his whereabouts.

Bootle-based PC Dave Rutherford and PC Paul Kirwan eventually found Mercer at an address in Litherland after a painstaking search.