A DRIVER who crashed his company car during a row with his girlfriend has been jailed after he pretended the vehicle had been stolen.

Warren Ryder, 38, did not want to admit damaging the car, so he pretended he had been burgled.

He persuaded his girlfriend tell police that the burglars had taken the keys to steal it and even went on to make an insurance claim.

He also lied to two off-duty police officers who heard the crash, telling them that he had already reported it to police.

Judge Jonathan Teare said: "Telling lies like this and perverting the course of justice strikes at the very heart of our criminal justice system and it can't go unnoticed."

The crash happened on August 16 last year.

Ryder, of Waterfield Way, Mansfield, was sentenced to six months in prison, of which he will serve half, after he pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and fraud.

He also lost his job as a result of the deception. The court heard he and his then-girlfriend had an argument, so he went after her in his car.

She got into the vehicle but thought he was driving dangerously, so she put the handbrake on and the car crashed into a traffic bollard.

After hearing the collision, the two-off duty officers went over to help but Ryder told them he had already reported the incident.

He and his girlfriend left the scene, leaving the car there with the keys in it.

He later made his girlfriend report a fake burglary and theft of the car, and the car was recovered.

An insurance claim of £116.35 was made for the changing of the house locks.

Police were suspicious and interviewed Ryder, who maintained the burglary was genuine. But his girlfriend was interviewed the day after and admitted what had happened. She made a statement and was cautioned for her part in the deception. Ryder was interviewed again and admitted the truth.

Nottingham Crown Court was told that Ryder had committed a similar offence in 1996, when he crashed a car after driving dangerously and then pretended it had been stolen.

In mitigation for Ryder, the court heard he was bewildered by his actions, full of remorse, and had acted out of panic.