Parents of girls killed in Land Rover crash ‘still waiting for truth'
Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau died while celebrating the last day of the summer term in the grounds of The Study prep school in Wimbledon, southwest London, after the vehicle smashed through a fence in July 2023.
The driver, Claire Freemantle, 48, was arrested after the incident but in June last year the police said she had experienced an epileptic seizure at the wheel and would face no criminal charges. That decision was criticised by the girls' families, who questioned the thoroughness of the investigation.
In October the Metropolitan Police said they would reopen the investigation after identifying 'lines of inquiry which required further examination'. On Sunday, at a remembrance event on Wimbledon Common, near the school, the girls' families expressed dismay at having to wait so long for answers.
Nuria's mother, Smera Chohan, said the families 'have had to fight very hard — harder than any victim should ever have had to', the BBC reported. 'But we remain committed to uncovering the truth about what happened. We still await answers for what happened on that fateful day … and with all your support, we will continue our fight until we have the answers we deserve.'
She added: 'Nothing is going to make our lives the same again … we were parents. I sometimes don't know if I'm a mother, I need to know why I'm not a mother and Nuria deserved a thorough investigation.'
Lau's father, Franky Lau, said: 'We are still waiting, we want a version of events that adds up.'
Helen Lowe, who was the school's head teacher at the time of the crash, said: 'There are still no answers to what happened on that day, and in that two-year period there have been a number of events which involved awful tragedy for children.
'But the people who perpetrated those events have had to be answerable — and we don't have that, which makes it, for the parents and for us, impossible to move on.'
Sharon Maher, the school's head teacher, said the quality of the new police investigation, which was launched in October, had 'a very different feel'. She added: 'They've taken our questions seriously … it's more thorough, it's detailed, that's all we've ever asked for.'
Freemantle was rearrested in January on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. She has expressed her 'deepest sorrow for the families who have suffered such dreadful loss and injury'. Last summer prosecutors said Freemantle had not previously had an epileptic seizure and was in good health before the crash. She is understood to have surrendered her driving licence.
Freemantle was driving away from Wimbledon Common when the £80,000, 3.5-tonne black-and-gold Land Rover mounted a kerb, crashed through a metal fence and collided with a building at the school.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford said: 'Our main priority is to ensure the lines of inquiry identified by the review are progressed. I would urge people to avoid speculation.'
The Met said: 'Our thoughts are with Nuria and Selena's loved ones at this particularly difficult time. Our investigation continues and we remain in regular contact with the families.'
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