Tri-Service

Jeremy Clarkson Facing Three Years In Prison

The episode with the number plate - possibly one of Jeremy Clarkson’s more memorable shows whilst on Top Gear and now it could come back to haunt him, with a three-year prison sentence.

Whilst filming a Christmas special in the country, Clarkson and the Top Gear crew had to make an escape to neighbouring Chile after a group of locals were angered by the number plate on the presenter's car.

The number plate on Clarkson’s Porsche read H982 FKL. Argentinians claimed it was mocking those who fought in the 1982 Falklands War, something which everyone involved with Top Gear has strenuously denied.

The plate was switched which was then seen as falsification and nearly ended a full-scale criminal investigation against those involved.

At the time, the prosecutor Maria Cristina Barrionuevo decided not to press ahead on the grounds that the team had attempted to avoid further trouble.

However, three appeal judges have now sided with prosecutors and ordered the reopening of the case, which could see those accused spend a worst case scenario of three years imprisonment.

The decision could mean that Jeremy Clarkson and his former Top Gear co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May will be summoned to give evidence in the city they fled in October last year before programme technicians and camera crews were caught in violent disturbances as they tried to escape to Chile.

Falklands war veteran Osvaldo Hillar, who prompted the court probe by filing an official complaint over the number-plate change on Clarkson’s car, has already been called to give evidence.

It’s reported that an Argentine politician also claimed ‘the digits 269 on the number plate of the Ford Mustang Richard Hammond drove were close to the 255 Britons killed during the war - and the numbers 646 on James May’s Lotus could be taken as a reference to the 649 Argentinian casualties.’

Last night, former Top Gear script editor Richard Porter made the following statement:

‘According to prosecutors, the Top Gear team committed a crime under article 289 of the Argentinian Penal Code, which charges those who ‘falsify, alter or suppress the number of an object registered in accordance with the law.’ Simply put, changing the plate was illegal, and that is what they’re being charged with. If found guilty, those charged could face between six months and three years in prison.

Maria Cristina Barrionuevo, the judge who originally blocked criminal proceedings, did so due to the fact that the team only changed the plate to appease those who were upset at the original plate. It seems a fair and logical conclusion to come to, but since her decision was overturned it remains to be seen if logic wins out.’