The Metropolitan Police is ready to overview its probe right into a deadly crash at a Wimbledon prep college which claimed the lives of two eight-year-old ladies.
The choice comes after ‘offended, unhappy and confused’ headteachers lashed out on the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) transfer to not cost the motive force who killed Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau.
The ladies had been having fun with and end-of-term celebration at The Examine Preparatory College in Wimbledon, south-west London when a Land Rover pushed by Claire Freemantle ploughed into the celebrations, fatally injuring them and wounding a dozen others
Final week, prosecutors revealed 47-year-old Ms Freemantle wouldn’t be charged with any prison offence as she had suffered and epileptic seizure behind the wheel – in a transfer that outraged the households of Nuria and Selena.
And right this moment each the present and former headteacher, who was in control of the varsity on the time of final 12 months’s crash, have criticised the police over its investigation and blasted the CPS’s transfer to not prosecute.
An £80,000 Land Rover crashed by way of the first college’s gates throughout an finish of time period picnic, killing the 2 ladies and injuring a dozen others
Nuria Sajjad (left) had been having fun with having fun with a tea celebration along with her classmates to mark the final day of time period when horrific crash passed off. The crash additionally killed Selena Lau (proper)
The college’s present Sharon Maher (left) and Helen Lowe, the previous head in control of the varsity on the time of the crash, have hit out on the determination to not prosecute the motive force
In response, the Met Police advised MailOnline: ‘Having listened to considerations from the households of each Nuria and Selena – and different events affected – we’re dedicated to addressing their questions, and the Specialist Crime Assessment Group (SCRG) will subsequently be finishing up a overview of the investigation.’
The Met stated its officers had labored ‘tirelessly’ to research each element of the tragedy.
Nonetheless, Sharon Maher, the present head at Wimbledon college, questioned this and stated: ‘It did not look that approach to us.’
Former head Helen Lowe – who vividly remembers the carnage following the crash and comforting a fatally injured Nuria and her mom – stated she hadn’t even been referred to as as a witness by the police.
Talking in her first interview because the tragedy, she advised the BBC: ‘No, I feel the phrases “thorough” and “tireless” recommend that you’d have a physique of proof that you’d be capable to share… however in some areas there was only a full lack of understanding, of primary info.’
Ms Maher added the varsity needed to wait practically a 12 months for the choice, which got here simply 10 days earlier than the anniversary of the ladies’ deaths on July 6, 2023.
And Ms Lowe stated the victims and college had been ‘let down’ by the Met and its incapability to reply a number of the questions from bereaved households, college mother and father and employees.
‘Perhaps once they [the Met] go away and have a look at the proof, they’ll bear in mind the solutions,’ she added. ‘However there have been a variety of events the place they weren’t certain if one thing had been performed, or they could not bear in mind.’
Nuria’s mom Smera was additionally injured within the horrific crash that passed off simply after this photograph of them was taken
Selena Lau enjoying piano at a college live performance shortly earlier than tragedy struck final July
After the CPS determination the ladies’ grieving households raged that ‘justice has neither been performed, nor has been seen to be performed right this moment’ – and that they remained ‘unconvinced’ the police probe had been carried out totally.
In a joint assertion, Sajjad Butt, Smera Chohan, Franky Lau and Jessie Deng – the mother and father of Nuria and Selena – stated: ‘All of the victims of the occasions of July 6 2023 did nothing incorrect.
‘We had been all within the most secure place we may have been exterior our personal houses. We had been celebrating a day full of pleasure.
‘Nuria and Selena’s lives had been taken in a second. So many lives had been additionally irreparably shattered in that second.
‘A whole lot of individuals – mother and father, lecturers, youngsters, neighbours, family and friends members – won’t ever lead “regular” lives once more. A few of us won’t ever expertise pleasure once more.
‘We have now tried to maintain religion within the techniques and establishments which can be supposed to guard victims and ship justice to these affected. We have now been disillusioned by this technique. We have now already expressed, publicly, our dissatisfaction with the tempo of the investigative course of.
Flowers and toys positioned exterior The Examine Prep college in Wimbledon, south-west London, after the incident
Nuria, who would have turned 9 on March 20, is pictured along with her loving mother and father Smera and Sajjad
‘It’s now clear to us that the depth of the method is questionable too. Within the absence of any concrete proof on the contrary, we will solely surmise that the investigation has been equally poor.’
Trevor Sterling, lawyer for the households, added: ‘That is disappointing; justice should not solely be performed, however seen to be performed.’
Final week the CPS stated there was nothing to recommend the motive force may have predicted or prevented the tragedy, and subsequently they’d not search a prison prosecution.
Talking out following the CPS’s determination, a grief-stricken Ms Freemantle expressed her ‘deepest sorrow’ and stated she had ‘no recollection of what passed off’ after shedding consciousness due to an epileptic seizure on the wheel.
Specialist officers on the scene of the incident final July
The Land Rover crashed by way of a fence at The Examine Prep college in south-west London at round 10am on July 6, 2023
Detective Chief Superintendent Clair Kelland insisted ‘significant inquiries’ had been carried out by a group of ‘specialist officers’ which established Ms Freemantle suffered a ‘beforehand undiagnosed seizure’ that prompted her to crash
‘Having carried out an in depth examination of her medical information, we all know that she could not have predicted or prevented the incident,’ she added.
‘The results of this had been, as we all know, completely devastating and the damage and ache that adopted will all the time be deeply felt.
‘I can perceive that some could also be confused – maybe even really feel let down – by this final result and wish to give each reassurance that our officers labored tirelessly by way of each element of the incident to make sure a whole investigation be handed to the CPS.
‘To deliver expenses in circumstances like this there must be a component of duty on the a part of the motive force, and, given the circumstances, this was merely not borne out on this event. What occurred that day was a really tragic accident which has had a profound influence on the lives of a variety of individuals.
‘Whereas our precedence has been to assist the affected households – together with the additional six households of those that acquired accidents – we have now additionally remained in shut contact with each the varsity and native council representatives all through, updating them on the timeline of the investigation whereas sustaining the integrity of our inquiries.’
