The driver of a 4×4 that ploughed into a Wimbledon primary school and killed two eight-year-old girls has been charged with causing their deaths by dangerous driving – more than two years after prosecutors initially decided she would face no further action.
Claire Freemantle, 49, is accused of two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and seven counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, the Metropolitan Police said. The charges relate to the crash at The Study Preparatory School in south-west London on 6 July 2023, when a Land Rover driven by Freemantle struck an end-of-term tea party. Eight-year-olds Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau were killed, and several other people – including a seven-month-old baby – were injured.
Freemantle is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 16 June. Her lawyers have said she will plead not guilty.
Charges brought after review
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) initially told Freemantle in June 2024 that she would face no charges, accepting medical evidence that she had suffered an undiagnosed epileptic seizure at the wheel and was “in no sense in control of the vehicle”. But the Met said a review was ordered “after concerns were raised by the families”, leading to a new investigation and “further lines of enquiry” being identified.
Detectives from the Specialist Crime Command launched a reinvestigation in October 2024. Freemantle was rearrested and released under investigation in January 2025. The Met submitted a full file of evidence to the CPS on 17 March 2026, and prosecutors confirmed on 1 April that significant new evidence had been passed to them, giving sufficient grounds to bring the case to court.
Commander Charmain Brenyah, who leads the Met’s Roads and Transport Policing Command, said: “We have updated the families of this development and our thoughts and sympathies remain with them. These charges follow a complex and rigorous reinvestigation by detectives.”
Initial decision not to prosecute
The decision not to charge Freemantle was announced in June 2024 after police and prosecutors concluded that the crash had been caused by a sudden, unforeseen medical event. Freemantle’s legal team has stressed that the epilepsy diagnosis was not provided by the driver herself but by an independent medical expert instructed by the police. They said her medical records, which she voluntarily handed over, showed she had never previously suffered any symptoms of epilepsy.
In a statement, Mark Jones, criminal defence partner at Payne Hicks Beach LLP, said: “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 that witnesses at the scene had described Freemantle as being “delirious” and having bitten through her tongue – characteristic of someone who has just suffered an epileptic fit – and that paramedics observed her in a “postictal state”, also symptomatic of a recent seizure. “The CPS decision at that time was not to charge Claire because there was no element of legal responsibility,” Jones said.
He said the initial decision was “the right one in these tragic circumstances” and that “there are serious questions to be answered about the reasons for its reversal today”.
Families’ concerns
The families of Nuria and Selena have consistently voiced dissatisfaction with the initial investigation, saying they were “unconvinced that the investigation was conducted thoroughly” and that they were pursuing “truth” and “complete clarity on the events of that devastating day and subsequent actions taken by the Metropolitan police”. Nuria’s father, Sajjad Butt, expressed concern that the CPS had “left us in the dark” and seemed “unwilling to engage with victims”. The families said they were “right to challenge” the decision not to charge Freemantle, believing it was not made on “full facts”.
The Met has apologised for how it initially handled the case. Commander Brenyah said: “While it is right that this matter be independently scrutinised, we are sorry for how we initially dealt with the incident and for the impact on those affected.” She also announced that following a review of the Roads and Transport Policing Command, the force will be “fundamentally resetting how the Met investigates fatal and serious collisions” to ensure responses are more effective and provide better support for victims and their families.
IOPC investigation
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is conducting an independent investigation into the Met’s handling of the initial inquiry. The watchdog said it is probing allegations that officers provided “false and misleading information” to the families, as well as allegations of racism in the way the case was handled. Four serving officers – including a commander and a detective chief inspector – are being investigated for gross misconduct.
Commander Brenyah confirmed that the Met continues to “fully support” the IOPC investigation. “There is an ongoing investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct into the first investigation which we continue to fully support,” she said. “We must now let both criminal proceedings and the independent investigation run their course.”
