Man thought about chasing suspected armed fugitive

Former soldier Laurie Kerr-Bell, 67, thought briefly about turning around and chasing the driver of a dark blue BMW car who nearly ran him off the road near Russell today.

However, with a wobbly tyre on his car he decided against it and instead told a policeman who was about a minute behind the speeding car, believed to have been driven by armed and dangerous fugitive Nathan Fenton.

Fenton, 31, was wanted in connection with the brutal slaying of his teenage girlfriend, Mairina Dunn, 17, in Whangarei nine days ago.

He was still on the run in Northland today as the police helicopter Eagle from Auckland and armed police from Northland scoured an area near Russell in the Bay of Islands after a reported sighting of Fenton today.

Mr Kerr-Bell said he was he was on the back road heading into Russell to get new tyres for his car when the speeding BMW nearly ran him off the road.

"I nearly got sideswiped by him. He was in a big hurry."

He said the driver was wearing a balaclava on his head and not pulled down over his face.

There was no sign of a firearm today but Mr Kerr-Bell was no stranger to offenders with guns and would have seriously thought about chasing the man.

About 20 years ago he tackled an armed man in Tokoroa after he had robbed his neighbours.

"He had a shotgun and I managed to tackle him," said Mr Kerr-Bell who had spent three years in the army and was deployed to Asia.

He said one of his neighbours came running down to tell them they had been robbed.

"I saw a bloke walking in the park and decided to go and have a talk with him.

"He had a tomahawk down his shirt and a shotgun.

"I started to get the shits because I was only 20 metres away or less and I had to make my move then so I took off after him.

"I had a torch and I jumped him, put his hand up behind his back and put him on the ground and took the shotgun off him."

He said he was not sure if the gunman had any mates with him who could come to his aid.

"So I yelled out 'Joe, I've got him'," making out I had a mate.

"We rang the police and we had him on the ground and emptied his pockets of the money he had pinched from the neighbours."

Mr Kerr-Bell said his unarmed army combat training came to the fore but he was not sure if he would have chased the man driving the BMW today.

"I had one wobbly tyre and it needed changing. Otherwise I wouldn't have minded.

"But I think I will sit in the background and have a little watch," he said.

- NZPA