A man who drove his electric Jaguar at up to 86mph on motorways falsely telling police the car was malfunctioning and out of his control has been jailed for four years and three months.
Nathan Owen fabricated not being able to brake in a “frighteningly stupid” ploy to avoid paying car finance, Liverpool crown court heard.
In a statement, Jaguar Land Rover UK (JLR) said the firm had spent an extra £50m in marketing to try to counter the publicity from the false allegations, which they said generated 180 pieces of adverse media coverage.
Owen, 33, collided with a police car 31 times as officers attempted to stop him after he phoned emergency services to tell them his vehicle was accelerating and there was nothing he could do.
He drove at speeds of up to 86mph on the M58, M57 and M62 in Merseyside for about 35 minutes, over a distance of about 38 miles, during the incident on 6 March 2024.
The Jaguar I-Pace eventually came to a stop near junction 12 of the M62 when the battery ran out.
Sentencing him, Judge Ian Unsworth KC said: “You set in train a course of conduct which caused a significant police traffic operation to be deployed, undoubted alarm to the public and very substantial loss and disruption to others.”
The judge said police officers placed themselves in danger because they believed they were dealing with a genuine emergency.
Addressing Owen, he added: “You, meanwhile, sought to profit from a lie.”
Police said that an extensive investigation with JLR revealed the car was functioning correctly and data showed that Owen did not press the brakes at any point.
He was arrested on 13 March and denied making it all up for financial gain. But police discovered Owen had a high level of personal debt and multiple missed payments on the vehicle finance.
Eric Lamb, prosecuting, said Owen, of Prestatyn, had about £5,000 left to pay to a car finance company and, on the day of the incident, attempted and failed to borrow money from a loan company.
Minutes after being turned down for the loan money he called 999 claiming his car would not brake and he had no control over the vehicle, which he said was accelerating.
Lamb said: “In fact, his car was stationary at the time of that call.”
Footage of the police pursuit of Owen was played in court, along with the audio from his 999 call, in which he was heard telling an operator he was “shaking” and the car had “gone crazy”.
When the car was eventually brought to a stop the brake lights could be seen turning on.
Owen contacted the finance company 40 minutes after the incident.
He was later paid £300 by the Sun and £500 by the Daily Mail for his story, the court heard.
Daniel Travers, defending, said Owen’s actions were “frighteningly stupid”.
Travers said Owen, who had no previous convictions and came from a “successful, stable family”, had been described by his father as a Walter Mitty character who “lives in a fantasy world”.
He added: “He had grand ideas and things just went wrong.”
Owen pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and two counts of fraud in June.
He was banned from driving for a period of five years after his release from custody.
