A British driver who claimed his Jaguar's brakes failed on the highway was actually faking the drama to dodge car payments, an English court has ruled. Nathan Owen, 33, was sentenced Monday to four years and three months in prison after admitting to dangerous driving and fraud, the New York Times reports. Owen called 999, the British equivalent of 911, in March 2024, insisting his electric Jaguar I-PACE wouldn't stop as police used their cars to bring him to a halt in a chase that hit 125mph.
But data from the car showed it had been stationary 30 seconds before his call and that he was pressing the accelerator and never touched the brakes while on the highway, police said. Investigators say Owen was in debt and had been texting about getting the car written off. The court heard that five minutes before the call to police, Owen had called his car finance company, which had told him his request to borrow more money had been rejected, the BBC reports. Police say that as they used their own vehicles to try to bring his Jaguar to a halt, he collided with police cars more than 30 times.
Police said Owen endangered officers, fellow motorists, and workers at the side of the highway north of Liverpool. Jaguar Land Rover said it found no fault with the vehicle and spent about $67 million fighting bad publicity after the incident, the Times reports. Defense attorney Daniel Travers said Owen "never anticipated" the damage that would be done to the company. Owen's plan, he said, was "frighteningly stupid for a man ostensibly reasonably well educated and intelligent."
- The court also heard that Owen made around $1,100 selling his story of a "terror ride" and "35 minutes in hell" to tabloids. "It was just going faster and faster," he told the Sun. "The button handbrake, neutral and reverse gears, nothing worked."
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