A MICHELIN-star chef who ran over his British intern twice has walked free from court – despite leaving the trainee with life-changing injuries.
Nick Bril, a high-profile chef behind a two-star restaurant, avoided jail after the horror smash that cost Joe Claridge both his legs.
The court heard how Bril drove his Land Rover Defender backwards and then forwards over the 37-year-old Brit as he lay on the ground after a staff party at The Jane in Antwerp, Belgium.
Claridge’s injuries were catastrophic. He was left in a coma for 50 days and later had both legs amputated following the crash on January 8, 2024.
Emergency services were only called after a passing jogger allegedly urged him to dial for help at around 6am.
Prosecutors blasted the chef’s actions, saying he should have acted immediately.
“Without the jogger, he would probably have gotten back into the car and driven away,” they added.
Paramedics also told the court Bril stayed eerily quiet at the scene.
“Usually, people are a chatterbox and can’t tell us enough, but with Nick Bril, we had to ask everything just to find something out,” they said.
Judges ruled Bril remained “knowingly and wilfully” silent once responders arrived – amounting to a form of hit-and-run.
The court also heard it was “manifestly implausible” that he didn’t realise he had run over Claridge.
But Bril was cleared of deliberately driving over the intern, with judges saying he “could not have foreseen the accident and did not intend the consequences”.
He was instead found guilty of leaving the scene and failing to report the incident.
Bril admitted wrongdoing during the trial, telling the court: “I am not pretending to be an innocent person.”
He added: “I can only imagine how the last few years have unfolded for him.”
Despite the severity of the case, Bril was only handed a 12-month suspended sentence.
He was fined just under £4,200, and banned from driving for four months.
The chef must also retake his driving tests.
The judge said compensation must be paid to Claridge – initially set at a symbolic one euro, with the final amount to be decided later.
