A ‘cruel and selfish’ man who left his friend for dead, not only spent years on the run, but also he taunted the family of the deceased, a court heard. Five years ago, Euan Corbett caused the death of Shane Finn – but decided to evade justice and mock the pain of Finn’s loved ones.
TeesideLive reported that in May 2020, after causing the death of Finn while driving, Corbett failed to call for an ambulance at the roadside, leaving his friend to fight for his life. Corbett decided to save himself when he was charged with the crash and escaped the country to hide out in Europe and Asia.
According to Teesside Crown Court, 26-year-old Corbett ordered associate drug dealer Brad Anderson to ‘hit’ a house in Middlesbrough days before a quad bike pulled up outside and shotgun was fired at the windows in July 2023.
He also asked him to ‘ping’ and ‘blow in windows’ of various other properties belonging to people he claimed owed him money. Earlier this month, the court also heard how Corbett told Anderson he was “chilling” in Snapchat voice notes and said he makes his money on his phone “buying stocks, gasses and oil and stuff”.
In March this year however it all came to an end when after three years on the run, Corbett was finally caught. Previous reports reveal he was ‘being held by authorities in a Turkish prison’.
‘Pound shop wannabe gangster’ and killer driver Euan Corbett (right), and tragic Shane Finn (left) -Credit:Teesside Live/Family
On November 20, justice caught up with Corbett, who was described as behaving like “some third rate pound shop wannabe-gangster” by Judge Jonathan Carroll, as the killer driver was jailed for a total of 15 years and two months.
Shane Finn died alone in hospital, due to Covid restrictions, days after the devastating crash on Knott Road, north of Rosedale Abbey, in North Yorkshire. Teesside Crown Court heard how Corbett’s Audi A3 left the road and “bounced twice” before it overturned.
He had tried to negotiate a bend on the North York Moors at over 100mph on May 2, 2020. Mr Finn, Corbett’s passenger and friend, was airlifted to James Cook University Hospital but died of his injuries two days later.
Another car had stopped at the scene in a bid to help Mr Finn, but Corbett lied to her. He told her not to say he was there when emergency services asked who was at the scene of the crash.
He claimed another man had been driving, who had fled the scene, something the court heard distracted the police investigation. A collision expert later found that Corbett was driving at speeds between 100 and 120 mph.
Euan Corbett -Credit:Cleveland Police
Shane Finn’s father, Stephen Finn, stood up to read his statement in court. He told Corbett: “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’s partner, said that she had “barely become a mother, when my daughter lost her father”.
Detective Constable Ellen Lowe, from North Yorkshire Police’s Major Collision Investigation Team, said: “The past five years have been deeply traumatic for Shane Finn’s family. Not only have they had to endure the tragic loss of Shane at such a young age, but Corbett has cruelly and selfishly prolonged their wait justice for his terrible actions while seemingly enjoying life on the run overseas.
“The prison sentence handed to him reflects the sheer harm he has caused in both North Yorkshire and the Cleveland Police area. Our thoughts remain with Shane’s loved ones who have shown immense dignity throughout the investigation.”
In 2022, Corbett was due to stand trial at York Crown Court but instead he breached bail and fled the UK. Launching an urgent appeal for help tracking down Corbett, police were stunned to find Corbett had posted pictures of himself with a toy gun in Malaysia. Interpol had issued a red notice for his arrest.
In 2023, Corbett posted a video posted on his Facebook page. It then showed him walking through a field, following a man, then on a boat. At the end of the video, Corbett, who is wearing sunglasses, an Under Armour t-shirt and a zip-up jacket, turns the camera to himself and says: “F*** you Interpol, in a bit.”
The video ends with Corbett saying: “Ola, baby.” The video is captioned: ‘Seems my claim to innocence didn’t make the media but everything else has – here’s one for you Interpol put this in your pipe and smoke it.
‘You had your chance now I’m gone’. Corbett’s Facebook page stated at the time he was living in Hanoi in Vietnam, but from Middlesbrough. Teesside Crown Court heard on Thursday how, during the riots, Corbett posted on Facebook that he would pay £500 to anyone “who sent him video evidence of setting police cars on fire”.
In March the 26-year-old is said to have been detained near the Iranian border and was being held by authorities in a Turkish prison. An anonymous source told Teesside Live that Corbett is said to have lost weight during the weeks in detention and is living on a diet of bread and water but is said to be “on top of the world, as always”. They said: “The conditions are absolutely appalling, there are 16 of them in a cell all sleeping on the floor.”
Corbett was extradited back to the UK and was hauled before York Crown Court in July. He went on to plead guilty to causing death by dangerous driving; causing death whilst uninsured and having no licence; and breach of bail.
While he admitted causing Mr Finn’s death by dangerous driving, Corbett, who was investigated by Cleveland Police following a shooting in Middlesbrough, denied conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. It followed an incident In Liverton Avenue, in Middlesbrough, in the early hours of July 5, 2023.
His co-accused drug dealer Brad Anderson, 32, formerly of Nut Lane, Middlesbrough, was jailed for 10 years in September 2024 for possession with intent to supply heroin and cocaine, and conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
Corbett claimed voice notes over Snapchat to Anderson, who was in the UK, had been “misinterpreted” but a jury took just two hours to find him guilty of the single charge following a two-day trial. Days after a request from Corbett, two males pulled up outside the house on a quad bike.
The passengers disembarked, and after some initial difficulty, fire a shotgun at the house – smashing the living room window. The owner of the house was upstairs watching TV in bed when the incident happened.
Teesside Crown Court heard over a series of voice notes in June 2023 that Corbett ordered homes be targeted in relation to three people that owed him money. He says: “Yeah bro, get them windows blown out for me” in a voice note after asking Anderson to get the address of a man who Corbett said owed him £13 from a thunderball on Facebook.
He said the house on Liverton Road needed “hitting” because a “f***ing cheek c***” hadn’t repaid a £200 debt. While in later voice notes, Corbett asks to get another “house pinged at” claiming someone owed him £900.
Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Inspector Matt Hollingsworth from Cleveland Police’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team (HMET), said: “Corbett was already on the run, trying to evade capture from police, when he ordered the attack on the house, which was sparked over him being owed a small amount of money.
“It is unthinkable the lengths he would go to over a relatively small disagreement, and even worse is the sheer disregard for what could have happened to anyone inside that property. Officers from Cleveland Police and North Yorkshire Police have worked tirelessly and carried out a thorough investigation to ensure that Corbett was located and returned to the UK to face justice for what he has done, and I am pleased that he is now behind bars for a significant length of time.”
On Thursday, justice finally caught up with Corbett, who had his head in his hands as he listened to proceedings via video link from prison. Corbett’s barrister read out a statement from his client – he wrote that he wanted to let Mr Finn’s family “know how sorry I am”. He said that Shane “was his friend” and he “misses him dearly.”
Judge Jonathan Carroll told the court that Mr Finn will miss his daughter’s “first tooth, a child growing up into a young woman” because of Corbett’s “selfishness.” He added: “I accept that Shane Finn was not wearing a seat belt 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. 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 loan shark, ordering another to shoot the windows of people who owed you a few quid – in your fantasy gangster lifestyle.”
He has also been handed a four-year driving ban which starts from when he is released from prison.
