Michelin-star chef who drove over intern twice and left him in coma avoids jail

Chef Nick Bril (left) ran over his intern after a staff party, leaving him in a coma for almost two months

A British intern had to have a double amputation after a Michelin-star chef drove over his legs with an SUV.

Joe Claridge, 39, suffered life-changing injuries after the chef Nick Bril ran over his legs following a staff party in Antwerp, Belgium.

Mr Claridge, a sous chef, was interning for Bril, who runs a two-star restaurant, when the catastrophic crash happened on January 8, 2024.

It unfolded when Bril backed his Land Rover Defender before driving it forward, going over Mr Claridge who lay on the ground outside The Jane, the luxury eatery owned by the high-profile Dutch chef.

Chef Nick Bril arriving at a hearing in December last year over the crash, which left Joe Claridge with life-changing injuries (Picture: Nicolas Maeterlinck/Belga/Shutterstock)

The intern suffered catastrophic injuries and was in a coma for 50 days before having both of his legs amputated, the Sun reports.

While the court deemed the crash was an accident, prosecutors accused the chef of not acting quickly enough in the aftermath.

The emergency services were allegedly only alerted after a jogger urged Bril to call for help at about 6am.

The prosecutors said: ‘Without the jogger, he would probably have gotten back into the car and driven away.’

Bril was accused of being unusually silent at the scene when paramedics tried to find out what had happened.

The judge found that his ‘knowing and wilful’ silence with the emergency services amounted to a kind of hit-and-run.

He was found guilty of leaving the scene and failing to report what had happened, and cleared of deliberately driving over Mr Claridge.

The judges said he could ‘not have foreseen the accident and did not intend the consequences.’

Bril, who admitted wrongdoing at the trial, said he can ‘only imagine how the last few years have unfolded’ for Mr Claridge.

The chef was given a 12-month suspended sentence and a four-month driving ban.

Mr Claridge, who has a young son, has reportedly moved to the island of Jersey with his family following the accident, where he spent a week in hospital in December, unable to attend an earlier court hearing.

His lawyer said he and his family have moved to an adapted house on the island, according to the Belgian outlet Het Laatste Nieuws.

Compensation to Mr Claridge was first set at a symbolic €1 (£0.87), with the full amount due to be set at a later date.

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