The Metropolitan police have launched a review of the investigation into a car crash at a school which killed two eight-year-old girls.
According to the force, the review was opened after concerns were raised by the families of Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau, both eight, who died after the crash at the Study Prep school in Wimbledon, south-west London, on 6 July last year.
The current and former headteachers of the Study have also said they felt let down by the Metropolitan police’s investigation.
Last week the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the driver would not face prosecution as she had suffered an epileptic seizure at the wheel and that there was nothing to suggest she could have predicted or prevented the tragedy having never previously been diagnosed with a medical condition.
In a statement the driver, Claire Freemantle, expressed her “deepest sorrow” and said she had “no recollection of what took place”.
The Met police said they would now review their investigation. “Having listened to concerns from the families of both Nuria and Selena – and other parties affected – we are committed to addressing their questions, and the Specialist Crime Review Group (SCRG) will therefore be carrying out a review of the investigation,” it said.
In their first interviews since the fatalities the Study’s current head, Sharon Maher, and Helen Lowe, who was in charge at the time, told BBC News the Met had failed to answer some of their key questions about the incident.
They said they were “angry, sad and confused” by the CPS decision, which came 10 days before the anniversary of the girls’ deaths. “We were both very surprised [by the CPS decision],” Maher said.
The Met said its officers had worked tirelessly through every detail of the incident to ensure a complete investigation but Maher said: “It didn’t look that way to us.”
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.”
She added: “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.”
After the CPS announcement, the girls’ families said in a statement that “justice has neither been done, nor has been seen to be done today”. They remained “unconvinced” that the investigation had been conducted thoroughly.
The school’s leadership team welcomed the Met’s decision but said it was clear it was willing to take further steps to challenge the police investigation.
With the anniversary this weekend Lowe said: “We couldn’t keep them safe on that day and I will always live with that.”
Nuria was “a talented, cheeky and very chatty girl, who was proud when her friends did well” and Selena “was very able and talented, who was modest and had a twinkle in her eye”, she said.
She vividly recalled the crash and was surprised the police did not interview her as a witness.
She stayed with Nuria, and her mother who was next to her, until the ambulance arrived. “And I just talked to her about how wonderful she was, how much we loved her and how much mummy and daddy loved her and what a special girl she was,” she said.
