Death crash driver Euan Corbett dubbed ‘waste of skin’

A man who fled the country after killing his friend in a 120mph car crash has been dubbed a “third rate, pound shop, wannabe gangster” by the judge who jailed him for more than 15 years and a “waste of human skin” by the victim’s dad.

Euan Corbett, 26, crashed his Audi A3 in the North York Moors in May 2020, killing passenger Shane Finn, 21, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Mr Finn’s father said Corbett, formerly from Thornaby, was a “heartless, uncaring, pathetic excuse for a man” who taunted officers about not being able to catch him.

Corbett admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was found guilty of a firearms offence, having arranged for a Middlesbrough woman’s window to be shot out.

A family driving along Knott Road towards Rosedale came across the “heavily damaged” Audi on moorland at about 13:00 BST on 2 May, prosecutor Jonathan Gittins said.

Corbett and his front seat passenger were beside the car but Mr Finn was slouched against it “clearly very unwell”, the court heard.

The woman from the passing car called 999 and gave first aid to Mr Finn, with Corbett telling her not to tell the call handler he was still at the scene, the court was told.

When police arrived, Corbett, who had no licence or insurance, told officers another man had been driving and fled across the fields, then “boasted” about the car reaching 120mph.

He mostly made no comment in subsequent police interviews except to say Mr Finn, who died in hospital two days after the crash, would “not want anyone to be grassed up”.

A forensic collision investigator said the car had been travelling at more than 100mph when it failed to navigate a bend, overturned and bounced twice before coming to rest on its passenger side, Mr Gittins said.

Before the case could come to court in 2022, Corbett fled abroad, travelling through Europe and Asia before eventually being arrested in Turkey earlier this year.

Over that time he posted messages on social media mocking and taunting police about not being able to catch him and, during a riot in Middlesbrough last summer, offered to pay people £500 if they sent him videos of police cars being set alight, the court heard.

Mr Finn’s father Steve told the court Corbett’s taunts had added to the family’s suffering while the killer was “living it up”.

He said Corbett was a “waste of human skin” and “not fit to mix with society”.

Steve Finn said his son’s death had left an empty void which could never be filled, adding the killer was a “heartless, uncaring, pathetic excuse for a man”.

Mr Finn’s partner Georgia Dixon told the court he was “not a typical young man” and he stood out, “all 6ft 5in of him”.

She said his laugh was always funnier than the joke that elicited it and his personality “shone in any room”.

Ms Dixon said the couple’s young daughter had been robbed of a father and Corbett had “made a mockery” of their pain and the justice system and “chose to stay thousands of miles away from the chaos he left us in”.

While on the run, in July 2023, Corbett, who had 35 convictions for 69 offences on his criminal record, arranged for a man to shoot out the living room window of a house in Middlesbrough over a debt, the court heard.

His involvement was discovered when voice notes he had sent ordering the “hit” were found on a phone after an unrelated arrest, Mr Gittins said.

Corbett had also demanded windows at two other houses be “blown out” or “pinged”, the court heard.

He denied involvement but was found guilty of conspiracy to posses a firearm with intent to cause fear.

In relation to the fatal crash, Judge Jonathan Carroll said Corbett’s driving was “truly shocking” and the price of his “utterly cavalier disregard” was Mr Finn’s death.

Corbett’s “true character” then showed itself when he failed to call for medical help for Mr Finn and instead sought to create lies to clear himself of blame for the crash, the judge said.

“You thought nothing of Shane and everything about yourself,” Judge Carroll said, with Corbett “swanning around Europe” enjoying himself while “taunting” police and Mr Finn’s family.

On the shooting, the judge said Corbett was a “third rate, pound shop wannabe gangster”.

Corbett was jailed for 10 and a half years for causing Mr Finn’s death, a further eight months for absconding and four years for the shooting offence.

He was also banned from driving for 14 years and one month.