Corey Owen Cooper was jailed for five years for causing the death of 17-year-old Josh Atkins by dangerous driving and for seriously injuring another friend
07:08, 08 Nov 2025Updated 07:15, 08 Nov 2025
Corey Owen Cooper was jailed for five years for causing the death of 17-year-old Josh Atkins, pictured, by dangerous driving and for seriously injuring another friend(Image: Claire Chapman / SWNS)
A teenager who caused the death of his passenger just a day after obtaining his driving licence was heard saying “what have I done, I’ve killed my best friend” moments after the accident, according to court proceedings.
Corey Owen Cooper, now 19, was sentenced to five years in prison today for causing the death of 17 year old Josh Atkins by dangerous driving and for seriously injuring another mate, Gabe Wiggett. Sheffield Crown Court was informed that all three lads in the car were 17 when Cooper crashed his granddad’s Fiat Grande Punto in the Stannington area of Sheffield on November 11, 2023.
The judge stated that Cooper had been performing wheel spins – or “doughnuts” – in a car park earlier that evening and had been “driving a car deplorably, almost certainly trying to show off to friends”.
Ian West, prosecuting, said police estimated the car was travelling at about 53mph in a 20mph zone on Myers Grove Lane shortly before Cooper lost control on a bend and collided with a metal barrier.
A girl in a car following the Fiat said it “just shot off” when it reached a straight section of road, adding: “He went that fast we lost sight of him,” the prosecutor told the court, reports the Mirror.
He said she then came across the car on its roof, with Cooper covered in blood, standing nearby and saying: “What have I done, what have I done, I’ve killed my best friend.”
Earlier in the evening, Cooper had been driving at high speed, with one friend estimating he reached about 80mph near Bradfield School in Worrall, the court heard.
Mr West revealed that Cooper had also been performing wheel spins in a car park in the Lodge Moor area of Sheffield. He added that friends had noticed the Fiat’s dashboard warning lights were “lit up like a Christmas tree” for 90 minutes before the crash due to a fault with the ABS system.
(Image: Claire Chapman / SWNS)
During sentencing, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC addressed Cooper: “This case should be called to the attention of all young people who have just passed the driving test. It is a case of a young man aged 17, as you were, driving a car deplorably, almost certainly trying to show off to friends.
“In consequence of your driving too fast, that young man – you – killed a friend and maimed another friend. A young life has been ended. Another two lives have been ruined. For what? Showing off to friends.”
The judge further stated that Cooper had shown “immaturity on a grand scale” and labelled his driving “truly appalling”, describing the case as a “human tragedy in every dimension”.
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