I don't often sign/share petitions but having watched the briefing a few weeks ago I truly believe that it needs to be shown on prime time terrestrial TV right across the UK. Please consider signing - we need this information to be widely known.
National Emergency Briefing@nebriefing.bsky.social · 3h agoPlease help us get the petition for a televised emergency briefing to 100,000 signatures. That will secure a Parliamentary debate - for a major boost in awareness. If you’ve signed, please ask friends and family. 🙏 petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76... #NationalEmergencyBriefing #TimeToStepUp
![4-panel vertical comic. (1) 100 Years Ago [two people standing next to bicycle with small car nearby] PERSON 1: It’s too dangerous riding a bike with these cars around. I should get a car, too. (2) 50 Years Ago [two people between smaller car and bigger car] PERSON 2 with short hair: Small cars are less safe in collisions with larger vehicles, so I should get a bigger one. (3) Today [two people between big car and even bigger car] PERSON 1: Everyone has huge SUVs now. If I don’t get the biggest one, I’m putting my family at risk. (4) Soon [two people next to large armored car with spiked clubs attached] PERSON 2: If I don’t install more whirling spike clubs, I’ll be destroyed by all the other drivers who...](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiby6can6k76yzfmv2czxs4pu2l7zie7bqbrpswi7h3ifmiadkuqvu)
![All of which brings us back to the 2023 inquiry, now the subject of an IOPC investigation. Given the awful situation, the whole thing ought to have been extraordinarily thorough. Yet for reasons the IOPC will doubtless be probing, officers failed to interview many important witnesses, including Helen Lowe, then headteacher of The Study Prep, a £21,000-a-year school for girls aged four to 11.
In July 2024, more than a year after the accident, Ms Lowe told how she had been one of the first people on the scene and had seen the driver exiting the vehicle. Despite providing her details to police, she was never asked to provide a statement. 'I sort of assumed we would be [contacted] and we haven't,' she said.
The failure to interview a potential key witness is especially baffling because evidence about how Ms Freemantle behaved in the immediate aftermath of the incident would be absolutely critical in helping a court work out whether she had indeed suffered a fit.
In normal circumstances, a sufferer will enter something known as the 'postictal state', which typically lasts between five and 30 minutes. Symptoms include extreme confusion, fatigue and memory loss and can extend to bouts of psychosis.
One unnamed witness who spoke to the Wimbledon Guardian described Ms Freemantle as 'in a delirious condition' after the accident and said she had 'bitten through her tongue'.
In the fog of an unfolding disaster, other first-hand accounts may differ. But it's unclear what steps were taken to track the various other witnesses down and take statements.
The IOPC is also understood to be probing how the police examined Ms Freemantle's subsequent claims regarding her medical condition.
Establishing whether someone has epilepsy is notoriously tricky without conducting scans and blood tests shortly after a seizure, as well as scrutinising a patient's medical history.
Ms Freemantle has never publicly shared how or when she obtained her diagnosis, but sources close to her say it was made by an independent medical expert appointed by the police, who also had access to her clinical records. What we do know, however, is the CPS initially accepted this version of events.
In June 2024, it announced she wouldn't face charges, saying that having scrutinised a file of evidence supplied by the police: 'It is not in the public interest to pursue a prosecution'.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:o5ziqhe3zamtk74c6tmksehc/bafkreic22pq2ohxcfuvnit27x4dkejz5lajoqr3k7yw3xq2jghdw7llt4q)
