CRUEL AND HEARTLESS
He taunted us that he’d gone to One Love gig Boasted of the €58,000 raised for him Bragged he’d go on hols while we’re on benefits
THE homeless “hero” who admitted robbing victims of the Manchester bomb taunted his family for doubting his bogus claims of bravery.
Well-wishers raised around €58,000 for Chris Parker after he said his “gut instinct” had been to stay and help despite being caught in the blast.
But after his ex and her mum cast doubt on his story – later exposed by CCTV as fantasy – he ranted: “Went to the One Love concert as a special guest.
“Does that not tell you the truth you d***head.”
In another message he bragged: “Hahahahaha d***head you are just jel cause I’ve got 52 grand. Ahahaha.
“And you are all on benefits whilst I’m on my way to Turkey… you are all just a bunch of scruffs… look at my bank account 52 grand richer.”
Parker, 33, sent the tirade to Suzanne Thomson, mum of his former partner Michelle Ray. He and Michelle have a Court to expect jail when he is sentenced 15-year-old son Brandon – who Parker later this month. abandoned five years ago. Parker had vanished just before
Michelle, also 33, said: “I wanted to Christmas but was finally taken to court believe for Brandon that Chris had done after being found hiding in a loft in something good for once. He’s his dad. Halifax. He had ditched his electronic tag
“But I knew from experience that all in an empty soup tin outside his bail the nonsense about him hostel in the town. being a hero wasn’t true. The drifter was hailed a He’s a nasty piece of work hero after telling how he and always has been. cradled a dying woman in
“People were rallying his arms and had wrapped round donating their a bloodied child in T-shirts hard-earned money to get until help arrived. him off the streets but he He had been in the foyer was probably laughing at when Salman Abedi set off them behind their backs.” his backpack bomb as
The money, raised excited fans, including through an online appeal, families, left the Ariana is being returned to Sorrell Leczkowski, 14, Grande gig on May 22. donors. Parker pleaded died. Parker stole from her gran Parker later told guilty this week to two counts of theft reporters: “It knocked me to the floor. I and one of fraud after rifling belongings got up and instead of running my gut of victims lying injured in the Manchester instinct was to run back and try and help. Arena foyer after last May’s attack. “There was people lying on the floor
He was told at Manchester Crown everywhere. I saw a little girl… she had no legs. I wrapped her in one of the merchandise T-shirts and said, ‘Where’s your mum and daddy?’ She said, ‘My dad is at work, my mum is up there’.”
He said he thought she meant the mum had died.
Parker, who was a frequent rough sleeper in Manchester, claimed he also tended to a woman in her 60s with serious head and leg injuries.
But his story was a sham. CCTV footage showed him preying on victims as they bled on the floor.
He was seen repeatedly returning to injured Pauline Healey before stealing her purse – and later used her bank card in a Mcdonald’s restaurant.
Pauline had been so badly injured she had 15 hours of surgery to remove shrapnel from her body. Her daughter Samantha who was also seriously hurt, and granddaughter Sorrell Leczkowski, 14 died. All three had gone to the concert venue to collect some friends.
Parker also stole a phone belonging to a teenage girl, and even went around
taking graphic pictures of victims on his own phone. Even when he was charged with the thefts he carried on the charade of innocence with son Brandon.
When Brandon contacted him on Facebook in November, Parker insisted he would walk free.
He told him: “Paid for a top barrister anyway. Not done anything wrong anyway CCTV shows me doing nothing wrong so it will get thrown out of court.”
RECORD
When Brandon asked his dad if he will go to jail Parker promises: “No i’ve done two months in Strangeways plus it will be three month on tag so i’ve virtually done my sentence already.”
The court heard Parker has an extensive criminal record dating back to 2000 that includes shoplifting, criminal damage, battery, and theft.
Michelle – who dumped Parker after a history of “emotional abuse” – says the scandal has had a profound effect on their son. She said: “He doesn’t say much about it, but I know it’s painful for him. claims he has “never paid a penny” in He told a few close friends Chris was maintenance and has given his son no a hero. birthday or Christmas gifts in five years.
“It’s just as well he didn’t tell the whole Michelle said: “He’s done nothing for school. He’s been very quiet about the him. We split up when Brandon was whole thing but he’s hurting. about 18 months old because he was
“The sad thing is Chris probably went cheating on me all the time. He used to to help but he can’t deny boast about it. his true nature. “We once went for a
“He’s a violent idiot who night out in the local club walked past his own son in and I caught him the street.” snogging somebody
Michelle claimed Chris behind the DJ’S box. was a womaniser who “I was devastated. cheated constantly, held Another time my sister wild parties in their flat Joanne had a row with and told her nobody else him because she stuck would look twice at her. up for me. He held her
They couple met when head down in the snow Michelle, of Darwen, Police help music out in the garden. Lancs, was 16. Parker was fans as they leave after bombing “He’s a waster. He in a homeless unit. She said: “I knew he refused to pay anything towards was the bad boy type. I was an idiot Brandon’s upbringing and he was never falling for him.” around to pay maintenance when
She says Chris was “over the moon” he was older.” when she got pregnant with Brandon but It is clear that Brandon still finds his abandonment by his father painful. He said: “We were really close when I was younger and I used to go around his house almost every weekend and we’d sit for hours on the Playstation together.
“But then he got into a relationship with someone else and asked me to come around less and less.
“Contact just stopped altogether when I was about 10. I’d see Dad in the street and shout him, but he’d just ignore me.
“I can’t believe he told all those lies about the bombing? Why did he do it?”
While Brandon says he wants nothing more to do with his father, his gran Suzanne said: “He loves Chris because, at the end of the day, it’s his dad.
“But he’s told us he doesn’t want to grow up anything like him. Brandon puts on a show like he doesn’t care – but I know he does.
“What Chris did makes him a scumbag, the very lowest of the low. What kind of a father can walk among dying children and steal from people?”
grace.macaskill@trinitymirror.com