Euan Corbett: Death crash driver who fled UK and taunted police jailed for over 15 years

A judge described Euan Corbett as a ‘third rate wannabe-gangster’ after he went on the run and ordered windows to be shot through

A danger driver who fled the country after causing the death of his friend was described by a judge as a “third rate pound shop wannabe-gangster” as he was jailed for 15 years.

Euan Corbett taunted police and arranged a shooting in Middlesbrough while abroad.

Corbett’s Audi A3 left the road and “bounced twice” before it overturned after he tried to negotiate a bend on the North York moors at over 100mph on May 2, 2020. His passenger and friend, Shane Finn, 21, was taken to James Cook University Hospital by air ambulance, but he died from his injuries two days later.

When another car stopped to help at the scene on Knott Road, which is north of Rosedale Abbey, Corbett, lied to them. He told the woman who stopped to help Mr Finn not to say he was there when the emergency services asked who was at the scene of the crash. He claimed that another man had been driving; and that he had fled the scene – something that the court heard distracted the police investigation.

A collision expert later found that Corbett was driving at speeds between 100 and 120 mph. He had no driving licence or insurance. The brakes of his Audi were worn, although that was not found to be a contributing factor to the crash.

Teesside Crown Court has heard that Corbett fled the country when he was granted bail. He failed to turn up to court in 2022. The judge described him as “swanning around Europe – taunting the police and taunting the family”. He wasn’t arrested until July 2025, on his return to the UK.

Whilst travelling in Europe, he committed a further offence. On Thursday, Corbett, who is from Thornaby, sat with his head in his hands, as he followed the court hearing from prison.

Jonathan Gittins, prosecuting, told the court that Corbett ordered an associate “to ping” various people and to “blow their windows in” in a series of Snapchat voice messages. Corbett, 26, was trying to frighten people he said owed him money. On July 5, 2023, a woman was up watching TV after midnight, in her Middlesbrough home, when she heard a loud bang.

When she went downstairs, she saw her living room windows were smashed. Mr Gittins said that when she looked at her CCTV, she saw two men, with their faces covered, on a quad bike. The footage showed “one of them firing a shotgun at her house.”

Corbett ‘not fit to be in society’

Shane Finn’s father, Stephen Finn, stood up to read his statement. He said: “You should never have to bury your son, it’s the most heart wrenching experience, that leaves scars forever.”

Mr Finn thanks the police – who he said “never gave up.” Turning to Corbett, he told him: “You are a heartless, thoughtless man – you should stay locked up, You’re a waste of human skin and not fit to be in society.”

Georgia Dixon, Shane Finn’s partner, said that she had “barely become a mother, when my daughter lost her father” and that she couldn’t visit Shane in hospital because of Covid restrictions. “Shane was alone at the time of the accident because the defendant did not comfort him,” Ms Dixon said, “Shane was also alone when he died, because of Covid”.

Ms Dixon accused Corbett of “making a mockery out of our pain”. She said that whilst he was on the run, during the riots, he posted on Facebook that he would pay £5,000 to anyone “who sent him video evidence of setting police cars on fire”.

Corbett, who gives his address at HMP Hull, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving; causing death whilst uninsured and having no licence; and breach of bail. He was convicted of conspiracy to possess a firearm, with intent to cause fear of violence, by a jury after standing trial last week.

Corbett’s defence

Corbett’s barrister read out a statement from his client – he wrote that he wanted to let Shane Finn’s family “know how sorry I am”. He said that Shane “was his friend” and he “misses him dearly.”

Mr Rishi told the court that Corbett was 21, “very immature” and that he panicked – “he could not face his family, he could not face his friends. Out of shame, he left the country.”

The defence barrister said that the “three friends were together in the car, when Mr Finn positioned himself in the middle of the rear seat and did not wear a seat belt. Shane Finn’s injuries were not immediately apparent after the crash.”

Judge slams Corbett’s apology

Judge Jonathan Carroll told the court that Shane Finn will miss his daughter’s “first tooth, a child growing up into a young woman” because of Corbett’s “selfishness.”

“I accept that Shane Finn was not wearing a seat belt,” the judge continued, “but that was not the cause of his death. The speeds you were driving at over the North Yorkshire moors were truly shocking.

“You set about making excuses not to accept responsibility. As Shane was fighting for his life, you did not call an ambulance. You invented another driver.”

The judge said that Corbett had spent three years “swanning around Europe – taunting the police and taunting the family”.

He rejected Corbett’s apology – telling him: “I, on behalf of the family, want to make it clear that are no signs of remorse from you. You fled the country, prioritising yourself over anybody else.”

Over the shooting, the judge described Corbett as behaving like “some third rate pound shop wannabe-gangster. Like a loanshark, ordering another to shoot the windows of people who owed you a few quid – in your fantasy gangster lifestyle.”

Corbett was jailed for 15-years-and- two-months. He was banned from driving for 14-years-and-one-month.

Gazette Live