‘Frighteningly stupid’: British man was behind on his car payments, so he jumped in his Jaguar and told police he was in a runaway car

Police responded — and spent a terrifying high-speed pursuit trying to slow the vehicle, hitting speeds of 125 miles per hour as Owen’s Jaguar struck officers’ cars more than 30 times. They eventually brought the car to a halt. Owen emerged portraying himself as a near-death survivor. “I could’ve crashed, it could’ve killed me, it could’ve killed somebody else,” the Times notes he told The Sun.

More than two years later, according to The New York Times, a Liverpool Crown Court determined the entire episode was staged. Owen, now 33, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and fraud charges in June, and was sentenced to four years and three months in prison.

The car’s data told the real story

The scheme collapsed under technical scrutiny. Merseyside Police and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) investigated jointly. “JLR provided technical support to assist the police investigation, which found no evidence of any vehicle-related defect contributing to the incident,” the company said in a statement cited by the Times.

The car’s data showed the vehicle had been completely stationary for 30 seconds before Owen made the emergency call. While the car was moving on the highway, data showed Owen pressing the accelerator, never even touching the brake. The car eventually stopped because the battery ran out of charge — not because of any mechanical failure.

Police also found text messages Owen had sent before the incident discussing how to get rid of the car, including attempts to have it written off. He was arrested a week after the staged incident.

The real cost of avoiding a car payment

Beyond the prison sentence, Owen’s scheme detonated a financial catastrophe for JLR. The company said in a statement read in court that it had spent 50 million British pounds — approximately $67 million — trying to counter the reputational damage caused by the staged incident, The Guardian noted, according to the Times.

This came at an already difficult moment for JLR: the company was recovering from a cyberattack last August that stopped production for five weeks and delivered a $2.5 billion blow to Britain’s economy. Recently, JLR announced it would lay off 300 workers.

But Owen’s predicament — being behind on car finance payments and seeing no way out — reflects a broader financial pressure. According to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a record 41 billion British pounds was lent for motor finance in the U.K. in 2025, 6% more than the prior year. The FCA is currently administering a 7.5 billion pound redress scheme for customers who were treated unfairly by motor finance lenders — a sign of how widespread financial stress in car financing has become.