Wimbledon school car crash: tributes pour in for eight-year-old as woman quizzed

Tributes have been paid to the eight-year-old girl who was killed after a car crashed into a London school holding a tea party in its grounds.

The victim, who has been named locally as “Selena”, was described as “‘our shining star’ in one card left by a woman in a sling at the scene”, said the Daily Mirror.

Police are continuing to question a woman in her 40s over the crash. The Mirror added that there have been “unconfirmed reports that the woman suffered a medical episode at the wheel” but officers are “not currently in a position to say anything on this”. The Met Police has, though, confirmed that it is not treating the incident as terror-related.

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Police have removed the car from the site as part of their investigation and the cordon has been lifted. However, green netting has been put up to cover where the school building was damaged.

Officers are also speaking to witnesses and “poring over CCTV” to “piece together how and why the black and gold two-ton 4x4 crashed through the school’s wooden fence into staff, children and their mothers and fathers”, said the Daily Mail.

Sixteen people, including a baby, needed treatment after the Land Rover crashed into the school. Parents of injured children are holding “bedside vigils”, said the Evening Standard, after being seen “jumping in ambulances” with their children yesterday. Some of the injured have broken bones, including a shattered pelvis.

Around 25 bunches of flowers were placed at the gates of the school this morning, added the Mirror, with a stuffed toy of a dog and candles also left at the location.

The crime scene “remains quiet with a few dog walkers and other passers-by looking at the flowers and damage”, said the paper.

The school said it was “profoundly shocked by the tragic accident” and “devastated that it has claimed the life of one of our young pupils as well as injuring several others”.