JEREMY Clarkson and the Top Gear crew could face three years in prison in Argentina after a judge reopened the investigation into their controversial number play stunt in the country.
The former BBC presenter, 55, sparked anger last year after driving through the country on a 1,400 mile road trip for a Christmas special in a Porsche with the number plate H982 FKL.
He was accused of goading war veterans over the 1982 Falklands war and the crew were attacked by angry locals as they tried to flee the country.
In an attempt to stop the riot, the car’s number was switched to H1 VAE – but this opened them to a charge of falsification.
A judge in the southern city of Ushuaia had thwarted attempts to charge Clarkson with falsification in April.
But state prosecutors appealed Maria Cristina Barrionuevo’s decision not to press ahead with a full-scale criminal investigation against him and his ex-Top Gear team.
Last night the probe was back on – and Clarkson and programme chiefs are facing a worst case scenario of three years in prison – after three appeal judges sided with prosecutors and ordered Barrionuevo to reactivate the case.
The decision raises the prospect of the high-profile presenter and his former Top Gear co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May being summoned to give evidence in the city they fled in October last year.
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.
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.
They also said the numbers 646 on James May’s Lotus could be taken as a reference to the 649 Argentinian casualties.
The Top Gear team ended up having to cut short filming and flee the country with a police escort after being told to leave by angry locals.