A young reveller left for dead when she was knocked down after a night out believes the driver will never be reformed.
Yesterday (November 14) Christopher Chan appeared at court and confessed to 14 crimes – most of which were committed in just 40 minutes – including running over Michelle Greest.
The 28-year-old and her friends were crossing the road near the seafront at 4.45am on July 15 when Chan ran her down with a stolen Volkswagen Passat.
Minutes earlier, he had fled a petrol station on Eastern Road without paying for £80 of fuel.
Christopher Chan
After leaving Miss Greest for dead he ram-raided a Portslade wood flooring store, stealing £2,000 of wood and causing £17,000 of damage.
But Chan, not content with his haul, returned to the burgled shop again at 6.20am.
Now driving a stolen Vauxhall from Amherst Crescent, where he abandoned the stolen Passat, Chan stole more wood in broad daylight with help from an accomplice never traced.
As he carried wood out of the store, Chan threatened passers-by by pulling his finger across his neck, imitating slitting his throat.
Broken back
Crash victim Miss Greest broke her back, hips and legs in multiple places and had blood clots on her brain.
The 28-year-old still walks with a limp and has not yet returned to work as a carer.
She made a brave public appeal from her hospital bed to help track down Chan.
After calls to police identified Chan, he was caught in August speeding around East-bourne in another stolen car.
A jigsaw of CCTV footage, a piece of radio aerial from the stolen VW at the burglary scene and Chan’s DNA in the cars confirmed him as the perpetrator.
Following the case at Brighton Crown Court, sitting at Brighton Magistrates Court, Miss Greest said yesterday: “I’m glad he has pleaded guilty to save me the stress of court but unfortunately this is a man who has been in prison before and not learnt and probably won’t learn again. Hopefully he will go down for a long time.”
On Monday a judge is due to watch the CCTV which filmed the moment Chan, of no fixed abode, mowed down Miss Greest, before deciding his jail term.
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