Photo: The Canadian Press
FILE – Police officers set up cordon line as a car crashed into a primary school building in Wimbledon, London, Thursday, July 6, 2023. British police say the driver of a 4×4 who suffered a seizure and plowed into a school in London, killing 2 children, will face no criminal charges. London’s Metropolitan Police say in statement Wednesday, June 26, 2024 that they had been advised by the Crown Prosecution Service that no charges would be filed in the incident at The Study Prep School in Wimbledon. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
The driver of a 4×4 who plowed into a school in southwest London in July, killing two children, suffered a seizure that could not have been predicted and will face no criminal charges, police said Wednesday.
The vehicle crashed into a crowd of children celebrating an outdoor end-of-year party at The Study Prep School in Wimbledon, killing Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau, both 8. The driver has no recollection of the incident and has expressed sorrow over the catastrophe.
In the statement, police said that significant enquiries carried out by specialist officers established that the driver suffered a previously undiagnosed seizure which caused her to lose control of the vehicle.
“Having carried out a detailed examination of her medical records, we know that she couldn’t have predicted or prevented the incident,’’ police said.
The parents of the two children who died, however, were skeptical that the investigation had been thorough.
“We remain unconvinced that the Crown Prosecution Service have reached a decision based on all the facts,” they said in a joint statement. “Justice has neither been done, nor has been seen to be done today.”
“Nuria and Selena deserved better,” the statement said.
The crash occurred about a mile away from the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, which is hosting the world-famous Wimbledon tennis tournament starting at the end of June. Unlike the Grand Slam venue, the school is located in a fairly remote area surrounded by local parks, horse trails and golf courses.
Police extended a large cordon around the school at the time and television pictures from overhead showed the vehicle up against the wall of the building.
