A woman has been charged in connection with a tragic car crash that killed two eight-year-old girls, including Indian-origin schoolgirl Nooriya Sajjad, when a vehicle plowed into a primary school fete in London.Claire Freemantle, 49, of Edge Hill, Wimbledon, is charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing death and seven counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury following the incident at The Study Prep School in Wimbledon in July 2023.According to his legal team, he is expected to plead not guilty when he appears at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 16.The accident occurred during the end of the year summer session celebrations when a Land Rover crossed the fence and entered the school grounds. Nuria Sajjad and her classmate Selena Lau, both eight years old, were killed, while more than a dozen others were injured.Freemantle was initially investigated, but in June 2024 police said she had suffered an epileptic seizure and would not face charges. That decision was later overturned after the victims’ families raised concerns, prompting a re-investigation.He was arrested again in January last year and released under investigation.His lawyers have questioned the reversal of an earlier decision to take no further action. A statement from his legal team said “serious questions must be answered” over why the case was reopened.Mark Jones, criminal defense partner at Payne Hicks Beach LLP, said she would be “traumatized for the rest of her life by the terrible loss and injury” and would be “completely devastated” by what happened.He added: “We believe that in these tragic circumstances the initial decision of the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) was the right one and serious questions remain to be answered about the reasons for its reversal today.”The Metropolitan Police have acknowledged shortcomings in their initial handling of the case. In a statement, it said: “We regret how we initially handled this incident and the impact it had on those affected.It added: “We must now allow both the criminal proceedings and the independent investigation to do their job. However, following a review of the Roads and Transport Policing Command we will fundamentally reset how the Met investigates fatal and serious collisions.”Separately, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is investigating the conduct of 11 Metropolitan Police staff in the investigation, including allegations that officers provided misleading information to families and failed to handle the case. The watchdog is also investigating claims of possible racial bias in the way the case was managed.
