Driven To Crime: True stories of wrongdoing in motor racing

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Now aged 42, he was convicted on one charge of obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception, three charges of obtaining services by deception and two of theft, but there were 16 other charges that he denied and weren’t dealt with. For the next round, at Brands Hatch on 20th June, Munroe again took the start for a short stint before handing over to his ‘pro’ co-driver with the car two laps down. He was remanded in custody until his sentencing and one month later was jailed for a third time, on this occasion for six years. After trying unsuccessfully to entice various high-profile owners to take part, the programme’s producers had to look elsewhere. McGraw Hill, a highly respected American company that had become one of the world’s biggest educational publishers, employed him as head of its accounts department in its European offices in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Other offences included committing fraud to get the job, obtaining money through fraud and four counts of transferring criminal property. In defence of his 36-year-old client, Peter Warne told the court: ‘Munroe describes himself, or his creation, as “a monster which he could not stop”.

Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). Even after his early release from prison in 2003, Munroe evidently still felt that the world owed him a living and that crime paid. We may never fully understand the true reasons why a middle manager living in a mock-Tudor house in Wokingham turned to a life of crime and massive fraud. I hocked myself to the hilt just to, albeit briefly, own a MkII Golf GTi 16v,’ he said, ‘sadly ending its days stolen, ransacked and unlovingly abandoned on bricks on Wentworth golf course.

In the story, Munroe was quoted as saying: ‘I’ve been into fast cars and racing since I was a teenager, but it’s a difficult game to get into. Goodwin admitted that by now, despite being handsomely paid, he was finding it difficult to maintain his motivation when co-driving with someone who was completely out of his depth.

Now going by the name James Munroe, he fooled himself that he was ready to live the second part of his childhood dream: he was going to become a racing driver. Panic Publicity continued to prove its worth by ensuring that its client made a series of television appearances, the most notable of which was on BBC2’s The Car’s The Star in an episode featuring the McLaren F1. There’s no doubt that Crispian’s book is a tough read, sometimes depressing, often crushing our idols; people and sportsmen we looked up to. Lockie’s contract was annulled and paid off in full by the team patron, after which he took up offers of drives in both a Marcos and Porsche in the GT2 class later in the season.