A PILOT accused of threatening to kill UKIP leader Nigel Farage has told jurors his threats were “rubbish” designed to get him sectioned.

Justin Adams was carrying Mr Farage in his light aircraft on Election Day last May when it crashed at Hinton-in-the-Hedges airfield, near Brackley.

The 46-year-old, from Buckland, near Faringdon, denies five charges of making threats to kill Mr Farage and crash investigator Martin James.

At Oxford Crown Court yesterday he told jurors: “All of the statements I made to very different people were purely to elicit help and assistance.”

“I was hoping for her [police call handler Sharon Bailey, ] to believe that I was speaking rubbish, rambling around the houses. It wasn’t intended to be coherent, it was intended to be spurious and that I needed treatment, that was the intention of my call.”

Jurors previously heard Adams had told Miss Bailey he had been in the special forces and served in Bosnia, but yesterday he said he was a member of the Territorial Army and had not served in the Balkans.

He told the court: “I have served with special forces on a number of occasions. I was using my experience and background to make up a claim that I knew about. The facts about my background are true.

“That I intended to kill someone, that I meant for them to think I would carry it out, is not true.”

Jurors began considering their verdict yesterday afternoon.