Moment thug was filmed punching woman, 18, so hard she's now crippled yet prosecution blunders mean he'll NEVER face court

• Nikki Brewer was left having to use a wheelchair after being grabbed by the hair and punched
• She has been left with constant back pain and a degenerative disease that may have been brought on by trauma
• A 31-year-old man was arrested but released without charge after the CPS and police failed to agree on his case

Furious: Teenager Nikki Brewer (pictured) was left in a wheelchair after a brutal attack by a drunken thug

A teenage girl who was left in a wheelchair after a brutal attack on the street is furious after her attacker walked free.
Nikki Brewer, 18, was pulled back by the hair by the drunken thug and punched so hard she was thrown into the air as she returned home from a night out in Colchester, Essex.

Her attacker verbally abused the young woman and spat at her before calmly walking away.
Yet despite the violence being caught on CCTV, the 31-year-old man who was arrested afterwards was never charged because of a loophole that puts a time limit on making a prosecution.
Ms Brewer, who now works for the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre in Colchester, suffered life-changing injuries after the incident and has been left with constant back pain.
She often has to resort to a wheelchair to get around because she tires so easily.
The charity worker has also been diagnosed with a degenerative disease that affects her nerves, which doctors have said can be brought on by a trauma injury.
'It is so frustrating and the law is silly,' she said.

'What was the point in making an arrest if there was no chance of prosecution?

'When I first complained to police, nothing happened and now I have run out of time to get justice.'
Ms Brewer was attacked on the high street in April 2009. Footage of the attack was featured in an episode of Crime Watch and has been viewed on YouTube by tens of thousands of people.
But after a series of delays to proceedings, police were forced to release the suspect without charge.

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'Unprovoked': The 18-year-old, left, was making her way home with a friend after a night out in Colchester, Essex, when the man, right, approached

Brutal: The attacker (circled red) and swings his fist at Nikki (circled blue) in the street

Dramatic footage: The charity worker, pictured prostrate after being hit, has also been diagnosed with a degenerative disease that affects her nerves, which doctors have said can be brought on by a trauma injury

'No justice': Ms Brewer suffered life-changing injuries as a result of the attack and has been left with constant back pain

Both Essex CPS and the police denied responsibility for the failure to prosecute.
He was initially arrested on suspicion of common assault because police did not realise how serious Ms Brewer's injuries were.
An Essex Police spokesman said the force then decided to take an advice file for actual bodily harm assault to the county's Crown Prosecution Service.
He continued: 'The CPS said there was insufficient evidence for an ABH charge and only enough for one of common assault - but by the time we got to this point, it was too late to proceed with a prosecution for common assault.'
There is a six-month limit to make a charge for common law offences. If the man had been arrested on suspicion of ABH instead, there would not have been a limit.
But in another confusing twist, the CPS claim they never even saw a file from the police, and merely gave advice on the matter.
'Nothing was ever logged in our system, so unless the police can give a date that this happened and person who it was handed to, we have no evidence this happened,' said a CPS spokeswoman.

'They would know the law on the time limit, so they could have decided not to submit anything at all.'
Ms Brewer - now 21 - said she has been left feeling let down by the justice system.
She added: 'It has been so frustrating to have to go through it all again only for nothing to come of it.

'Before this happened, I had never had back pain and I now spend a lot of time at pain clinics trying to help.'
Doctors have diagnosed her with defective degenerative disc and multi-level facet hypertrophy, which means her enlarged joints are now pushing on her nerves, leaving her in agony.

Inspector Paul Butcher of Essex Police said: 'This was a very unusual and disgraceful attack on a young woman which was totally unprovoked.'