Two eight-year-old girls died at a tea party on the last day of term when a Land Rover crashed through the fence of The Study Preparatory School in Wimbledon, South London, in July 2023. Now, more than two years later, the driver, Clare Freemantle, 45, is to face trial over their deaths.
Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau, both eight, were killed in the crash, which also left more than fifteen others injured — among them a seven-month-old baby girl and her mother, and five other children aged between seven and eight. Nuria's mother, Smera Chohan, and another mother, Tamsyn Van De Vyver, were seriously injured, as was a third mother with her infant.
“Clare Freemantle charged with causing death by dangerous driving after crash that killed two eight-year-old girls at Wimbledon school tea party.”
Appearing at the Old Bailey, Freemantle was charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and seven counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving — five of which relate to children. She was not asked to enter any pleas, and a provisional trial date was set for 6 September 2027. She was released on unconditional bail ahead of a further hearing on 23 November.
The case has taken a tortuous path. Criminal proceedings were initially dropped in June 2024 after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Freemantle had suffered an undiagnosed epileptic seizure at the wheel. But the families of the dead girls raised concerns that the investigation had not been thorough enough. In October 2024, the Metropolitan Police reopened the inquiry, and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) launched a probe into the handling of the initial investigation — with eleven officers now under investigation.
The CPS ultimately brought charges after what David Malone, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for London North, described as coming from “significant new evidence” passed to them by the police following the reopened investigation. “This charging decision was made after the Metropolitan Police re-opened their investigation into the collision which led to significant new evidence being passed to us for consideration,” Malone said.
For the families of Nuria and Selena, the trial, still years away, is the next step in a painful wait for justice.