Michael Cooper, a former Detective Chief Inspector with the UK’s Derbyshire Constabulary, was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday after admitting he caused the death of 50-year-old educational psychologist James Bane and seriously injured a female pedestrian while driving an unmarked police Peugeot 208 in Etwall, Derbyshire, in September 2021.
Cooper, now 55, was also handed a concurrent two-year term for the injuries caused to the woman and was disqualified from driving for five years. He had changed his plea to guilty just days before his trial was due to begin, nearly five years after the collision that killed Bane.
A Collision Years In The Making
The crash occurred on Egginton Road in Etwall on the evening of September 28, 2021, after Cooper left a local leisure centre and got behind the wheel while on a mobile phone call that ended roughly five seconds before impact, according to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which investigated the collision following a mandatory death-or-serious-injury referral from Derbyshire Constabulary.
Investigators found that Cooper had crossed to the opposite side of the road to overtake parked vehicles, then accelerated from 20 to 29 miles per hour over a 50-metre stretch before veering toward the kerb.
The Peugeot struck a parked car, mounted the pavement and hit the female pedestrian, before swerving back into the road and striking Bane, who was standing behind his own vehicle. Bane died at the scene.
Cooper was later found slumped across the front passenger seat with swelling to his head and told investigators he could not remember what had happened.
Central to the case was Cooper’s medical history. The court heard that he had suffered previous blackouts and had been explicitly advised by medical professionals, on more than one occasion, to notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency of his condition.
He never did. Emily Barry, the IOPC’s Director of Engagement, said the evidence pointed to a deliberate choice rather than an oversight.
“There is evidence to suggest ex-DCI Cooper made a conscious decision to drive, despite his condition, and also failed to inform the DVLA of his previous blackouts despite written advice to do so on more than one occasion,” Barry said. “He has now been held accountable for his actions and received a jail sentence.”
A Second Scandal Hidden In The Boot
The case took an unexpected turn when investigators found gym gear in the boot of Cooper’s car, prompting a separate IOPC inquiry into whether the unmarked police vehicle had been used for personal purposes.
That investigation found Cooper had used the Peugeot on as many as 18 occasions between June and the end of September 2021 for non-policing errands, including trips to a leisure centre and a fast food restaurant, and had carried non-police passengers in breach of force policy, with none of the journeys logged.
Investigators also found he had used police-funded fuel for those trips while simultaneously claiming an essential user allowance for using his own car on force business.
Those findings led Derbyshire Constabulary to convene an accelerated misconduct hearing in August 2024, which concluded that Cooper’s personal use of the vehicle amounted to gross misconduct and that he would have been dismissed had he not resigned just before the hearing took place.
Cooper admitted breaching professional standards around honesty and integrity, discreditable conduct, and orders and instructions. Barry said the panel’s chair had described the conduct as “serious, protracted and an abuse of position for personal gain,” adding that “such behaviour has the capacity to erode public confidence in policing.”
Cooper has since been added to the police barred list, permanently preventing him from future employment in policing. Details of the misconduct finding could not be made public at the time, in order to avoid prejudicing the ongoing criminal case, and were only released once Friday’s sentencing concluded the legal process.
Derbyshire Constabulary Responds
Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Michelle Shooter said the force’s thoughts remained with Bane’s family as the lengthy legal process finally reached its conclusion. “At the forefront of my mind today are the family and friends of James Bane,” Shooter said.
“Bane was clearly a deeply loved family member, friend and colleague and in both his personal and professional lives impacted a great many lives. His sudden death is a tragedy for all those who knew him, and no sentence will adequately explain the devastation of his loss to his family and friends.”
Shooter did not shy away from the fact that Cooper had once held one of the force’s most senior investigative ranks.
“Mick Cooper had risen to the rank of Detective Chief Inspector and should have been a leader that upheld the standards that we, and the public, expect of us,” she said.
“Instead, he got behind the wheel of a car that he knew he was not safe to drive and caused the death of Bane, in doing so, Cooper failed in his duties as both a police officer and as a citizen.” She added that while Friday’s sentencing closed the legal chapter of the case, “it does not, however, mark the end of their loss, something that they will now have to live with for the rest of their lives.”
A Five-Year Road To Justice
The case’s protracted timeline reflects the scale of the investigation behind it. The IOPC said its inquiry drew on interviews with Cooper, his work phone records, statements from police witnesses, automatic number plate recognition footage, and a review of the force’s policies on vehicle use, travel and expenses.
A file of evidence was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service in May 2023, nearly two years after the crash, with further partnership work between investigators and prosecutors ultimately leading to charges being authorised and Cooper’s eventual guilty pleas.
Court records show Cooper had previously denied the charges before reversing his position shortly before trial was set to begin.
The case now stands as one of the most serious instances of police misconduct associated with Derbyshire Constabulary in recent years, combining a fatal road death with a documented pattern of dishonesty about both a driver’s medical fitness and a senior officer’s use of a public asset for private gain, a combination investigators say goes to the heart of public trust in policing.
A separate IOPC probe found Cooper had also misused his unmarked police car for personal trips for months before the crash, leading to a gross misconduct finding and his placement on the police barred list. The case concluded nearly five years after the fatal collision in Etwall, Derbyshire.
