SCHOOL WHERE CRASH KILLED TWO PUPILS ‘LET DOWN’ BY MET INVESTIGATION
Leaders of a Wimbledon school where two eight-year-old girls died after a Land Rover ploughed into an end-of-term party have said they feel let down by the Metropolitan Police investigation.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said last week that following a “lengthy and detailed police investigation” it concluded that driver Claire Freemantle, who was 46 at the time, suffered an epileptic seizure.
The Met has now launched a review of its investigation into the deaths of pupils Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau following the collision, which took place at the Study Preparatory in Wimbledon, south west London, on July 6 last year.
Helen Lowe, the former headteacher of the school who was in post at the time of the crash, said the Met had failed to answer some of their key questions about the incident following its initial investigation.
Sharon Maher, the incumbent head, said the school had to wait around a year for the decision, which came just 10 days before the anniversary of the girls’ deaths.
They said they were “angry, sad and confused” by the CPS decision not to prosecute.
Ms Maher told BBC: “We were both very surprised [by the CPS decision].”
Ms Maher questioned The Met’s claim that its officers had worked tirelessly through every detail of the incident to ensure a complete investigation.
She said: “It didn’t look that way to us.”
Ms Lowe added: “No, I think the words ‘thorough’ and ‘tireless’ suggest that you would have a body of evidence that you would be able to share… but in some areas there was just a complete lack of knowledge, of basic information.
“Maybe when they [the Met] go away and look at the evidence, they will remember the answers. But there were a number of occasions where they weren’t sure if something had been done, or they couldn’t remember.
“At this moment in time, it would appear that I have been let down by them.”
Following the CPS decision, Nuria’s parents, Sajjad Butt and Smera Chohan, and Selena’s parents, Franky Lau and Jessie Deng, said in a joint statement: “We were all in the safest place we could have been outside our own homes. We were celebrating a day filled with joy. Nuria and Selena’s lives were taken in a moment.
“So many lives were also irreparably shattered in that moment.
“Hundreds of people – parents, teachers, children, neighbours, friends and family members – will never lead ‘normal’ lives again.
“Some of us will never experience joy again.”
Mrs Freemantle, believed to be a mother of three, expressed her “deepest sorrow” and said she had “no recollection of what took place”.
It is understood she has voluntarily surrendered her licence and, following her diagnosis, she will need to be a year free of any seizures before she can reapply to the DVLA for her licence again.
Mrs Freemantle lives with her husband in Wimbledon.
The Metropolitan Police said: “Having listened to concerns from the families of both Nuria and Selena – and other parties affected – we are committed to addressing their questions, and the Specialist Crime Review Group will therefore be carrying out a review of the investigation.”
2024-07-04T08:27:04Z dg43tfdfdgfd