Police launch review of inquiry into deaths of two girls after Land Rover ploughed into end-of-term party at Study Preparatory in Wimbledon
: KIN CHEUNG/AP
Leaders of a Wimbledon school where two eight-year-old girls died after a Land Rover ploughed into an end-of-term party 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 had concluded that Claire Freemantle, the driver, who was 46 at the time, suffered an epileptic seizure.
The Met has now launched a review of its investigation into the deaths of Nuria Sajjad and fellow pupil 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.”
The Met said its officers had worked tirelessly through every detail of the incident to ensure a complete investigation but Ms Maher questioned that.
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.
: YUI MOK/PA
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