Selena Lau was crushed to death whilst enjoying a tea party at The Study Prep School in Wimbledon, when a 4X4 Land Rover smashed through the playground fence and ploughed into a group of children and adults last July.
Last week police said a 46-year-old woman from Wimbledon who was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, had been released under investigation.
That means while enquiries are ongoing she no longer has to abide by bail conditions.
Now heartbroken parents Franky and Jessie Lau, both 45, have shared their agonising frustration over the lack of progress in the long-running police investigation.
And in an emotionally charged TV interview with Daily Express columnist Vanessa Feltz, the couple broke down in tears as they revealed how they are haunted by the guilt of not being with their “funny, cheeky daughter” when she died.
They have also released heartbreaking footage of Selena performing Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer on the piano just minutes before she was killed.
Moments after she was given a warm round of applause and the concert finished, pupils and their families went outside for the picnic, when the £80,000 car smashed through a fence.
Selena and her friend Nuria Sajjad, also eight, were both killed in the incident while dozens of other children and parents were injured.
Jessie wept as she recalled seeing her daughter’s body after receiving a phone call from the school reception telling her to get to school as quickly as possible because “something really serious” has happened.
She said: “It was the end of my world. I first saw her lying on a bed near the reception area. So alone with a tube in her mouth, blood stains and bruises on her face. It comes flashing back every day, every night, and I wish that was me lying there not her, I wish I could swap with her, I’d give anything I have to have her back.”
Franky, who had been working from home, had already made his way to the school.
He told Vanessa’s Talk TV show: “We replay that day in our head every day. Was there anything we could have done to make that not happen?
“Should I have gone to see the performance? She would have been speaking to me for an extra few seconds, which would have made all the difference.
Expressing his frustration at the police probe the devastated father added: “The driver is free to go wherever she likes, and there’s no time limit on that. It’s still ongoing, that’s all we know. It could be ten years, twenty years, we don’t know. I like to think I have faith in the police, but at this point, we don’t have much confidence. We just want answers, we want justice for our daughter.
“We’re very close to the other family, that’s how they feel as well. It’s no closure, no information or confirmation about whatever happened to our girls. We are frustrated. They’re suffering every day like us.”
They say the pain and uncertainty is also taking a heavy toll on Selena’s twelve-year-old “best buddy” sister who no longer attends the piano, netball, dancing and singing classes she once shared with her sibling.
Det Ch Supt Clair Kelland, in charge of policing for south west London, said: “Specialist detectives are working tirelessly to establish the circumstances of that day, including analysing CCTV and examining the expert report from forensic collision investigators.
“We recognise that the time taken can cause further distress but it is only right and fair to all involved that we carry out a thorough and extensive investigation.”
