‘Walter Mitty’ jailed over web of lies to avoid speeding fine
A “WALTER MITTY fantasist” led police on a two-year chase spanning three countries by creating an “extraordinary web of lies” in a failed attempt to avoid a £100 speeding fine, a court heard.
Christopher Henry was caught breaking a 30mph limit in his ex-wife’s Land Rover Freelander but refused to accept the ticket and went to extreme lengths to dodge it.
First, he intercepted the initial paperwork for the fine addressed to his former spouse, returning it to police and claiming it was a Frenchman called Grevin Musee who was the new registered owner of the vehicle.
The Musée Grévin is a popular wax museum in Paris and the address Henry gave was at a hotel near the museum. When police redirected the fine to the new address, Henry was able to intercept this too, writing back to say it was another fictitious driver.
The documents were returned to police saying George Harris from the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides was the driver responsible, but when officers found no trace, Interpol were called in.
Interpol agents made the link to the wax museum and after calling the postmistress on the Isle of Lewis, who had no knowledge of a Mr Harris, the speeding fine circled back to Henry.
Fingerprints on the documents matched Henry’s, and police obtained recordings of him calling the AA on two separate occasions when he broke down in the Freelander.
The 52-year-old was jailed for 12 months yesterday at Winchester Crown Court. Judge Andrew Barnett described him as a “fantasist akin to Walter Mitty” – a character who first appeared in The New Yorker in 1939 and flicked from one personality to another in a life of vivid fantasy.
Henry, from Weston-on-the-green, Oxon, provided false dates of sale to the DVLA, set up a false email address and doctored emails from insurers. He was convicted of three counts of perverting the course of justice.