Man, 21, who killed two men in drug-drive smash is spared jail AGAIN

Retired Met Police sergeant’s son, 21, who escaped prosecution for killing two men in drug-drive smash is spared jail AGAIN for drug dealing and failing to take a blood test

• Max Coopey, 21, killed two pedestrians while drug driving in 2018 
• He appeared in court again today for failure to take a drug test after driving
• Read more: Met sergeant’s son spared jail for having £1,000 of cannabis stashed

The son of retired police officers who killed two pedestrians while drug driving has been spared jail again for drug dealing and failing to take a blood test.

Max Coopey, 21, son of Sergeant Russel Coopey, appeared at Reading Magistrates Court today for his ‘deliberate’ failure to take a drug test after driving.

He was found with cannabis and ‘burner phones’ which the court heard he was dealing to fund his own drug habit.

But the judge declined to jail Coopey after hearing he had started doing mentoring work to help other young people not to commit crimes.

The court heard the man still receives money from his parents, who were both Metropolitan Police officers until they retired last year.

Coopey became notorious after he hit and killed salesmen John Shackley and Jason Imi as they were walking back to their hotel after a work night out in 2018. 

Max Coopey, the 21-year-old son of retired police officers who killed two pedestrians while drug driving in 2018, has been spared jail yet again for drug dealing and failing to take a blood test

Coopey’s parents, Sergeant Russel Coopey (pictured in June 2020) and Pc Catherine Coopey were both Metropolitan Police officers until they retired last year

Mr Shackley, 61, and Mr Imi, 48, were launched over the roof of Coopey’s father’s Audi A5 sports car and killed instantly on the A329 London Road in Sunninghill, Berkshire.

Coopey, then 17, was over the limit for cannabis and had fraudulently obtained an insurance policy to cover him for the day of the incident on August 2, 2018.

After a Thames Valley Police investigation decided Coopey was not criminally liable for the deaths, he was charged with drug driving only.

Magistrates in Reading spared him jail but sentenced him to a YRO and disqualified him from driving for two years.

On Friday, Coopey admitted failing to provide blood for a laboratory test in the course of an investigation into whether he had committed an offence when driving on July 22 last year.

On 2 August 2018, Coopey, then aged 17 years, was at the wheel of his Met Police sergeant father’s sports car when he drove into John Shackley, 61 (pictured) and sales manager Jason Imi, 48 

The pair had been walking back to their hotel from a work night out with their IT firm and were thrown over the roof of the Audi A5. They died the moment they hit the ground. Pictured: victim Jason Imi with his wife Sarah

He also admitted two charges of possessing with intent to supply cannabis on September 14 2019 and February 21 2020.

District judge Samuel Goozee told Coopey: ‘It is clear from your record that as a youth you were leading an anti-social life and associating with anti-social people.

READ MORE: Met Police officers’ son, 20, who escaped prosecution for killing two men in drug-drive crash is spared jail for having £1,000 stash of cannabis at family’s £1m home

 

‘You have developed an entrenched drug dependency and had turned to dealing not only to fund your own dependency but to earn money.’

Meanwhile, Coopey is also facing sentencing at Isleworth Crown Court for possessing cannabis with intent to supply, being concerned in making an offer to supply ketamine and supplying Xanax on February 9 last year.

Judge Goozee commented: ‘I now have learned you have an outstanding matter committed when you were a much older person.

‘The Crown Court may deal with you in a very different way than I do this afternoon. By law I am required to consider your age at the time of these offences.’

Goozee sentenced Coopey to an 18-month community order which would require him to complete 25 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days, a mental health treatment requirement and to be on a monitoring tag for six months.

He was disqualified from driving for 36 months and the judge ordered him to pay costs of £100 and a surcharge of £95.

Judge Goozee, after asking whether Coopey received benefits, commented: ‘You are still receiving money from your parents.’

Coopey’s father Russel, a Sergeant formerly of the South West Basic Control Unit and his mother Catherine, a schools officer based in Ealing, have left the Metropolitan Police Force.

It was believed they had retired after Coopey appeared in court charged with stashing £1000 of cannabis at their £1million family home.

A spokesman for the Met said: ‘Both officers are no longer serving in the MPS having retired earlier in 2022.’

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