The driver of a car that crashed into a south London primary school has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving after two eight-year-old girls were killed.
Claire Freemantle is accused of two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and seven counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving after the incident at The Study Prep school in Wimbledon in July 2023.
Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau died in the fatal collision as the school was celebrating the last day of the summer term.
Freemantle’s lawyers have indicated she will plead not guilty to the charges when she appears at Westminster magistrates’ court on 16 June.
The charges come after the girls’ families criticised Scotland Yard for its investigation into the crash, with the force saying in June 2024 the driver had suffered an epileptic seizure and would face no criminal charges.
Freemantle, of Wimbledon, was rearrested and released under investigation in January last year. Her lawyers have said there are “serious questions to be answered” over why the decision not to charge her was reversed in a statement issued after she was charged.
The families of Nuria and Selena said they were “right to challenge” the decision not to charge.
“In June 2024, we rejected the Crown Prosecution Service’s decision to take no further action because we did not believe that decision had been made on the full facts. We were right to challenge that decision,” they told the BBC.
“The Metropolitan police specialist crime review group’s findings, the reopening of the investigation, and the need to obtain extensive new evidence over the last two years, have all vindicated our position.
“From the very beginning, we have demanded one thing: the truth about why our daughters were killed. We have lived every day since then in torment – without peace, without answers, and without accountability. Despite overwhelming grief, we have been forced to fight for the most basic clarity about what happened.
“With the decision to charge Freemantle, the case will now proceed to trial. We are one step closer to understanding why Nuria and Selena were killed and why so many others were harmed.”
The Met police apologised for the way it had initially dealt with the incident and the “impact on those affected” – adding it would be “fundamentally resetting how the Met investigates fatal and serious collisions”.
Freemantle’s lawyers have said the defendant was “utterly devastated” after the two girls’ deaths, but had “no recollection” of what happened.
The statement, from Mark Jones at Payne Hicks Beach LLP on behalf of Freemantle, read: “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.
“She remains utterly devastated by the appalling consequences for all those so tragically affected.
“We believe that initial decision by the CPS was the right one in these tragic circumstances and that there are serious questions to be answered about the reasons for its reversal today.”
The Independent Office for Police Conduct is now investigating officers for alleged racism in their handling of the case. The watchdog previously said it was investigation allegations that officers provided “false and misleading information” to the families after complaints about the standard of the investigation.
Four serving officers, including a commander and a detective chief inspector, are being investigated for gross misconduct.
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