Nathan Owen, 33, was jailed for four years and three months at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday after admitting dangerous driving and two counts of fraud. He had claimed his electric Jaguar was out of control to avoid paying finance, but investigations found no fault with the vehicle.
Incident Details
Owen, of Prestatyn in North Wales, entered into a finance agreement in September 2023 for the Jaguar I-Pace. By March 2024, he was in arrears with CA Auto Finance, with about £5,000 left to pay. On the day of the incident, he called loan company Plata to ask for more money on top of the £3,000 he had already borrowed, but was refused.
Five minutes later, shortly after 2pm, he called 999 claiming his car would not brake and was accelerating. The court heard that at the time of the call, the car was stationary. Police attended, and the car, travelling at speeds up to 86mph on the M58, M57, and M62 in Merseyside, had to be boxed off by emergency vehicles before stopping on the M62 near Warrington, Cheshire. The incident lasted about 35 minutes and covered about 38 miles.
Sentencing and Impact
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." He added that police officers placed themselves in danger because they believed they were dealing with a genuine emergency, and that Owen "sought to profit from a lie."
Prosecutor Eric Lamb said Owen had "fabricated the events in order to enable him to get rid of the vehicle. He had full control of the vehicle and with full control of the vehicle he travelled at excessive and extreme speeds." Motorways had to be closed as a result. Footage of the pursuit and audio of the 999 call were played in court, in which Owen said he was "shaking" and the car had "gone crazy." When the car stopped, 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. Murray Paul, from Jaguar Land Rover UK, said the firm spent an extra £50 million in marketing to counter the publicity, which generated 180 pieces of adverse media coverage.
Defence lawyer Daniel Travers said Owen's actions were "frighteningly stupid." He noted Owen had no previous convictions and came from a "successful, stable family," describing him as a Walter Mitty character who "lives in a fantasy world." He added: "He had grand ideas and things just went wrong."
Owen was jailed for four years and three months and banned from driving for five years after release. A charge of causing a public nuisance was ordered to lie on the file.
Det Con Michael Doyle said: "It was clear from our investigations that he was in full control of his vehicle throughout the duration of the incident. By his own admission, there were workers on the hard shoulder of the motorway and he clearly put them and other road users in danger with his reckless actions."
