- Driver Claire Freemantle, 49, charged with causing death by dangerous driving
- Two eight-year-old girls killed when car hit Wimbledon school in July 2023
- Case reopened after families pushed for reinvestigation
- Freemantle to plead not guilty, citing epileptic seizure at time of crash
POLICE have charged a driver who crashed her car into a southwest London school three years ago, killing two young girls, police and prosecutors said on Friday (1).
Claire Freemantle, 49, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving over the July 2023 crash in Wimbledon after "significant new evidence" was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, said David Malone, deputy chief prosecutor.
Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau, both eight, were killed when a Land Rover crashed into The Study Prep private school as pupils were outside on the lawn celebrating the end of term. Ten others were treated for their injuries in hospital.
The crash triggered shock around the country.
Prosecutors said in June 2024 that they would not be charging Freemantle over the incident, as she had had an epileptic seizure behind the wheel of her car.
That had caused her to "lose control of the vehicle which then drove into the school," they said at the time.
But police reopened inquiries in October 2024 after concerns were raised by the victims' families, according to commander Charmain Brenyah, who leads the roads and transport division of London's Metropolitan police.
"These charges follow a complex and rigorous reinvestigation by detectives," she said in a statement, which "identified a number of issues relating to the first investigation".
'Freemantle to plead not guilty'
Lawyers for Freemantle said in a statement that she would plead not guilty at a court appearance set for June 16.
"As a mother of school-aged children herself, Claire will be tortured for the rest of her life by the dreadful loss and injury resulting from the unimaginable tragedy of that day," defence lawyer Mark Jones said in a statement.
"However, Claire has no recollection of that terrible tragedy. Moments before the crash Claire suffered an epileptic seizure with loss of consciousness and memory."
He added the diagnosis had been made by an independent medical expert, who also confirmed that Freemantle had never before suffered an epileptic fit.
The girls' parents have long fought for their daughters' deaths to be re-investigated, arguing questions remained unanswered about exactly what had happened.
"From the very beginning, we have demanded one thing: the truth about why our daughters were killed," they said in a statement to the BBC.
The Metropolitan police said complaints against 11 officers involved in the previous inquiry were now being probed, and it had referred the case to the UK's independent police watchdog.
(AFP)
