DEFENDANT ‘SEEMED MORE CONCERNED ABOUT HIS CAR’ THAN LIFE OF WILL, AGED 19
LOSS ‘IMPOSSIBLE TO EXPRESS’
THE sentencing hearing at Nottingham Crown Court heard statements from Will’s family, with his father saying the impact of his son’s death was “impossible to express”.
Will, from Dorset, was a first-year student at the University of Nottingham, studying politics and international relations.
Admired by his friends, Will had worked at a dementia home making “the old ladies laugh” and “cheering up the old men” and wanted to take his “kind and thoughtful” persona into a career with the UN.
His dad, Matthew Christmas, told the court: “The death of my son has unsurprisingly impacted on my life and that of his family and friends in ways which are impossible to express.
“I tried again and again to express how I feel in words but without success. He was run down and killed a few days short of his 20th birthday.
“What is devastating is the driver did not stop. This is hard to cope with. I would expect any adult to do anything they could for the victim of an accident.
“He just drove on without regard to his victim. He left my son for dead in the middle of the road. I fail to understand that heartless attitude.
“He has been taken from us in his prime and cast a dark shadow on his surviving twin. Will is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing at night.
“He was stolen from us and I had no chance to say goodbye. He was the life and soul of any gathering and such a positive life force.”
Will’s twin brother Sam, who struggled to hold back his emotions, told the court he felt Shah had taken away “part of my identity.”
He said they had barely spent 10 days apart in their 19 years together and he will now go through life without his “constant companion”.