A “Walter Mitty character” who falsely claimed his luxury electric Jaguar had malfunctioned on the motorway and could not brake, forcing police to bring it to an emergency stop, has been jailed.

Nathan Owen, 33, called police on 6 March 2024 and claimed his Jaguar I-Pace was “not stopping” as he drove down on the M57 in Merseyside.

But Liverpool Crown Court heard Owen had “fabricated the events” to “get rid of the vehicle” and get out of his finance agreement – and later even sold the story to tabloid newspapers.

Owen, of Prestatyn, north Wales, admitted dangerous driving and two counts of fraud at a hearing last month and was earlier jailed for four years and three months.

The car had travelled for 38 miles (61 km) along the the M57 and M58 before finally being brought to a stop by police cars manoeuvreing to box it in on the M62, close to Junction 12 at Birchwood, Warrington.

Eric Lamb, prosecuting, said Owen had travelled at “extreme speeds” of up to 86mph.

“Before entering the motorway he went through red lights,” Lamb said.

“He was texting his girlfriend whilst apparently not in control of the vehicle and collided with a police car deployed to assist on a number of occasions.”

Police dashcam footage played in court shows Owen’s car tailing a police vehicle that had been dispatched to drive in front of him while he was on the phone to a 999 call handler who told him “don’t panic”.

The footage showed a number of minor collisions with the vehicle in front while they drove in convoy before Owen was brought to a stop.

The court heard the original call to police in fact took place while Owen’s car was stationary and it was made five minutes after he had made another call to his car finance company in which they rejected his request to borrow more money.

Owen told the call handler: “I don’t know how to explain, my car’s not stopping, my car’s stuck at 78mph and I’m going down the motorway”.”

He said it had happened in the past when it had gone “over 100” miles per hour and he warned the call handler “I’m coming to a massive bend on the motorway”.

“I’m really shaking,” he added.

Owen later called his car finance company again and told them what he had told to the police.

Lamb told the court the next day Owen sold his story to the Sun and the Daily Mail newspapers, describing his “terror ride” and “35 minutes in hell”, for which he was paid a combined £800.

Owen told the Daily Mail: “‘I felt like a criminal like in a big police chase, that’s how it felt. It felt like Grand Theft Auto.”

The court heard Jaguar Land Rover was forced to allocate £50m in marketing costs to counter the adverse publicity, resulting from the press coverage of Owen’s claims.

Merseyside Police said an initial delve into his finances showed a high level of personal debt and multiple missed payments on the vehicle’s finance.

Text messages recovered from his mobile phone also showed him discussing how to get rid of the vehicle – including getting the car written off – in the months before the reported incident.

Daniel Travers, defending, said Owen’s plan was “frighteningly stupid for a man ostensibly reasonably well educated and intelligent”.

He 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”.

Travers said Owen “never anticipated” the damage that would be done to Jaguar Land Rover by the negative publicity resulting from his story.

Sentencing Owen, Judge Ian Unsworth KC told him: “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.

“You, meanwhile, sought to profit from a lie,” he added.

Owen was also disqualified from driving for five years and until an extended driving test has been passed.

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