Parents of a girl killed when a Land Rover ploughed into her school have said they live in “horror” because of how long the police case is taking.
Nuria Sajjad and fellow eight-year-old pupil Selena Lau died after the crash at The Study Prep school in Wimbledon, south-west London, on July 6 last year. Several others were injured when the car crashed through a fence and collided with a building.
A woman arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving was released under investigation.
Nuria’s parents said to the BBC that the Metropolitan Police Commissioner has told them the case is taking so long due to a lack of forensic officers.
Her mother Smera Chohan said: “Occasions have come and gone in the last 10 months from Christmas to new year to Ramadan to Eid to Mother’s Day to her ninth birthday.
“And we have lived through all of those without knowing how or why our daughter was killed.
“This is how much time has passed. This is unacceptable and it’s a horror that we live in.”
Nuria’s father Sajjad Butt said: “The only reason for this delay in this coming to the next stage is a lack of specialised resources to deliver a particular part of the investigation.”
Ms Chohan said the lack of resources in the case was not acceptable because of the “nature” of what happened and “the way we have been left”.
Mr Butt added that the case might be “impacted” because as time passes “memories fade”.
He went on: “Asking critical people to wait nine months for things to move, could this impact us getting justice for our girl? It might.”
The families want cases involving child fatalities to be prioritized and greater resources given to these investigations.
