Drug- driving double killer out of jail after just one week
A POLICE officer’s son who was high on cannabis when he killed two men in a horrific road accident has been freed from prison after spending just a week behind bars for breaking a driving ban.
Max Coopey, 18, had been jailed for three months for getting back behind the wheel two weeks after he had mown down grandfather John Shackley, 61, and Jason Imi, 48.
But to the fury of his victims’ families, a judge allowed Coopey to go back to his parents’ £1 million home in Ascot, Berkshire, on Friday after he launched an appeal against his sentence, arguing that the punishment was too harsh.
The men’s grieving relatives – who are already furious because police had decided not to charge Coopey with causing the two deaths following the crash in August last year – said the decision was ‘another slap in the face’.
Coopey had smoked cannabis before ploughing his father’s £ 35,000 Audi sports car into workmates Mr Shackley and father of three Mr Imi as they crossed a road in Sunninghill, Berkshire. Despite being well over the drug- drive limit and having a string of previous convictions – including one for drugdriving just eight weeks before the crash – the teenager was told only to complete 100 hours of community service, fined £105 and banned from the road for two years.
Before t hat s entence was handed down, he had been prohibited from driving while the police investigation into the fatal accident took place – and that was when he was caught behind the wheel. Coopey was hauled back to court last month and jailed after being found guilty of driving while disqualified.
But his time behind bars was brief after Friday’s bail applicat i on was al l owed by Judge Edward Burgess sitting at Reading Crown Court.
The ruling was made despite the judge hearing details of Coopey’s catalogue of previous convictions, which he described as ‘not an attractive history for one so young’.
Coopey committed common assault when he was 12 years old and robbery when he was 13. He also has a conviction for handling stolen goods when he was 14 and was caught in possession of cannabis aged 15.
Coopey’s barrister, Rebecca Hadgett, said: ‘He has been seeking a referral in relation to his mental health. He has issues with anxiety and depression.
‘Next year he wants to go to university – he has desires to go into mobile catering.’
Coopey’s father, Metropolitan Police Sergeant Russel Coopey, attended court to assist with instructing lawyers on his son’s bail application.
Coopey’s mother Katy was also a police officer until recently, working in a community role with schools in London.
Mr Shackley’s daughter Danielle, who had given birth to her first child just two months before her father’s death, said: ‘Coopey has kept getting lenient sentences. Everyone says you cannot claim it is because he is the son of police officers but if he was a poor boy from a council estate, he would have been put in prison a long time ago.’