Driver who crashed into primary school killing two eight-year-old girls could face criminal charges two years on - after new witnesses come forward
Police are preparing a file of evidence for prosecutors to consider charges against Claire Freemantle, 48, who had avoided prosecution after saying she had suffered her first ever epileptic seizure at the wheel.
The development comes on the second anniversary of Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau dying after the Land Rover Defender veered off the road and smashed through a fence into The Study Prep School in Wimbledon, south-west London, as children and staff were enjoying an end-of-term tea party.
Nine children and three adults were also seriously injured in the crash on the morning of July 6, 2023.
Today, the grieving families and community are holding a memorial event to commemorate the girls.
In a poignant reminder, Nuria and Selena's classmates marked the end of their time at the prep school on Friday before moving on to secondary education.
Ms Freemantle was arrested at the scene and investigated by police. But prosecutors decided not to bring any criminal charges in June 2024 after Ms Freemantle said she had suffered an epileptic seizure.
In October, the Mail revealed Met Police had decided to reopen the probe after a serious case review uncovered significant flaws in the way officers conducted the initial inquiry, including consideration of medical evidence which led to the case being dropped.
One of the key issues in the original investigation was the diagnosis of epilepsy, which is notoriously difficult to detect without brain scans shortly after a seizure, and a detailed consideration of a patient's medical history.
The review is also understood to have been critical of missed opportunities by the original investigation team in the Road Traffic Collisions Unit who failed to interview key witnesses at the scene about the driver's behaviour in the immediate aftermath.
The case was subsequently reopened and handed to a top detective superintendent from Specialist Crime Command.
Police then made a successful appeal for people who witnessed the crash to come forward to help officers understand whether the driver's behaviour was consistent with her diagnosis.
In January, Ms Freemantle was rearrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. She remains on bail. The bereaved families welcomed the case being reopened 'into the death of our beautiful girls and the harm caused to those injured and who witnessed the tragedy'.
Ms Freemantle has said she had no recollection of what happened after losing consciousness.
She said last year: 'Since I became aware of the terrible event that took place on July 6, the devastating consequences for all those affected have not left my thoughts and will be with me for the rest of my life.
'I have since been diagnosed as having suffered an epileptic seizure with loss of consciousness.
'This was not a pre-existing condition,' she added.
'As a result of losing consciousness, I have no recollection of what took place.'
Met Police said: 'Our thoughts are with Nuria and Selena's loved ones at this time.
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At the back of the plane, the rival stags lunged at each other, their aggression fuelled by one-litre bottles of duty-free alcohol, suspected drug use in the toilets, and the whoops of their lairy mates. Clutching the phone receiver as she repeated her call for urgent assistance from the cockpit, Kristina Galvydyte, 32, watched as her tiny fellow stewardess plunged between the men in a bid to break them up. 'It was just absolute chaos, they were screaming – imagine a night out in any British town at midnight on a Friday,' she says. 'It was like that.' Only this wasn't some high street, it was 30,000ft in the air on a flight packed with passengers somewhere between Edinburgh and Alicante. There were three stag groups on board – and just four stewardesses. One group had become verbally abusive after draining their duty-free faster than the crew could confiscate it (it's prohibited to open onboard). The second group took offence, sparking a confrontation. 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Yet she quit her job as a stewardess for a British-based airline (which she prefers not to name) three years ago, and says a friend still in the industry is now desperate to leave 'because of the behaviour of passengers'. Could it be even worse now? 'That's correct,' she says curtly, her disgust unmistakable. This month, Ryanair announced it would fine passengers removed from flights due to their behaviour a 'minimum' of £500 – and will continue to pursue civil damages. It's the latest move by Europe's largest airline to address an escalating, industry-wide problem. Chief executive Michael O'Leary has already called for a two-drink limit to be enforced at airports, telling The Telegraph last year: 'We don't want to begrudge people having a drink. But we don't allow people to drink-drive, yet we keep putting them up in aircraft at 33,000 feet.' A stewardess for six years, Galvydyte points to destinations such as party island Ibiza – where some airlines now operate a 'dry bar' – as well as Turkey and the Canary Islands, especially Tenerife, as hotspots for 'horrendous' flights. But these days, she says, any journey can take a turn. While she believes British passengers are the worst offenders, it's not just men who become aggressive. Women do too. 'They target your appearance, your accent – they observe you. It was a woman who made me cry.' She recalls that the middle-aged culprit was part of a hen do. Taking over the back of the plane, the group were loud and sweary, repeatedly shouting the 'B-word' – 'b------ on tour,' she remembers. 'I was like, 'Hey, you can't swear like that. This is a family-friendly flight…'' – but it continued. As passengers waited to disembark, the woman cornered her. 'She started telling me I was really bad at my job, that I shouldn't be working here, that I should just quit. And… really personal insults,' Galvydyte recalls. Once they left, she broke down in tears. Another stewardess tells me she was punched by a female passenger in her 50s. Still in the job after more than two decades with a British-based airline, she's asked to remain anonymous. 'She was drunk, and I'd told her I wasn't serving any more alcohol. But then she made friends with others in the row, and they gave her some,' she recalls. 'Her behaviour got more aggressive, so I told her it wasn't acceptable – and she just launched into a tirade, calling me a c---. 'We were coming in to land, and I think I asked her to sit down… and then she just stood up and punched me.' The stewardess saw it coming and turned so her face was narrowly missed – the blow landed on her shoulder instead. She and her colleagues managed to get the woman back into her seat. 'They had to bring a wheelchair because she was so leathered, she couldn't walk,' she says. Of course, there are the stereotypical lads, too. One group of young men had managed to drink so much before boarding that one vomited violently before departure and was escorted off. 'He couldn't speak, he could barely walk, he couldn't even hold his head up… I don't know how they'd got him onto the aircraft,' she says. Once in the air, two others vomited all over themselves, too. But it could just as easily be middle-aged men. 'You go to a destination like Portugal where you get groups of golfers, there is a kind of testosterone-fuelled, alcohol-induced mentality… I've had to deal with passengers in their 50s who have behaved like schoolchildren,' she says. Rowing couples also add to the charged cocktail of booze, altitude and tension. On one flight, she had to approach a 'middle-class' couple in their 40s who were loudly arguing. Fearing the woman was vulnerable, she and her colleagues coaxed her to move – only for the aggression to turn on them. 'She was saying we were flirting with her husband, that we wanted to get him on his own [so] we could get his number,' she says. Another couple's drunken row escalated into a punch-up with a father seated in front. 'The language had become unacceptable and the father turned around and said, 'You need to shut up,'' she describes. 'And within minutes you've got arguing, somebody throws a punch.' She explains how surrounding passengers often get involved. In this case, the father hit the man, and she was forced to step between them. The whole atmosphere is a tinderbox which can be sparked by as little as a reclining seat, or the yank if someone pulls on the chair in front as they stand. She explains while aeroplane doors can never be opened during flights due to air pressure, cabins are a dangerous environment in the wrong hands due to their confinement and heavy objects onboard, such as fire extinguishers and oxygen cylinders. 'Since Covid, [the bad behaviour has] stepped up a level,' she says. 'I just think people feel more entitled. Then you put them on an aircraft where they feel out of control; they're in a confined space, they're sitting around people they don't know, and there's also alcohol involved and I think [more] people are taking medication, whether prescribed or not prescribed.' The mix is lethal. While she acknowledges that alcohol consumption at airports is a problem, she believes the drinks served onboard are too large. 'The measures we serve are double measures,' she explains. Although crew can refuse service, it's a 'double-edged sword' because, at some airlines, cabin crew earn commission from sales. Galvydyte adds that the miniatures bought in duty-free are particularly tricky to confiscate, as they replicate the drinks served onboard. 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Whether O'Leary's new measure will make a difference is doubtful, given disruptive passengers already face hefty fines, possible criminal charges, or even prison sentences. Those caught drunk on an aircraft can be fined up to £5,000 and face up to two years in prison. If charged with endangering an aircraft, they could face up to five years behind bars. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says disruptive passengers who cause a diversion could be fined more than £10,000. The anonymous stewardess describes how police presence at destination airports has become a regular occurrence. In fact, officers appearing on the air bridge before take-off as a deterrent is now more common. Yet, as we head into peak summertime, little seems to be changing. In recent weeks alone, reports have highlighted disturbing cases, including video of an easyJet flight to Ibiza overrun by raucous Britons dubbed 'English animals' by a Spanish passenger, and a passenger escorted off a flight from Gran Canaria to Birmingham for allegedly punching crew. The stewardess is braced, she admits. 'We get so used to it,' she says, sounding numb. 'To me, that's just part of my working life.'
