💔 Van driver admits responsibility for fatal crash that ki||ed King’s Cσllege student in central Lσndσn

RETRANSMITTING CORRECTING NAME FROM Aalia Mahimed TO Aalia MahomedUndated handout photo issued by the Metropolitan Police of Aalia Mahomed, who has been named as the victim who died following an incident involving a van close to The Strand, central London. Three pedestrians suffered injuries, and Mahomed, 20, was pronounced dead at the scene. Issue date: Thursday March 20, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story POLICE Van. Photo credit should read: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Aalia Mohomed was killed on Kings College London’s campus (Picture: PA)

A man has pleaded guilty to killing a university student after he struck her with his van as she sat on a bench in central London.

Christopher Jackson, 27, of Southampton, appeared at the Old Bailey and pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

He admitted the charges with his head bowed and continued to look towards the floor for the majority of the hearing.

Prosecutor Fiona Robertson said Aalia Mahomed’s family and the two surviving victims are ‘anxious’ for Jackson to be sentenced before the anniversary of the incident.

Aalia, 20, who was studying at King’s College London, died at the scene on the Strand on March 18 last year.

Undated handout photo issued by the Metropolitan Police of Christopher Jackson, 27, of Southampton, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving at the Old Bailey on Monday. Aalia Mahomed, 20, who was studying at King's College London, died after being struck by a van driven by Jackson. in the Strand on March 18 last year. Issue date: Monday February 02, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Christopher Jackson, 27, of Southampton, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving (Picture: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire)

Judge Philip Katz KC said: ‘It is inevitably going to be a substantial custodial sentence.’

Jessica Clarke, defending, said: ‘Unlike many cases of death by dangerous driving which involve excessive speed, alcohol and drugs, this involves none of that. It was a tragic accident.’

Jackson, who was remanded in custody, will be sentenced at the same court on March 6.

Clarke also told the court Jackson has three young children with his fiancĂ©e and has been trying to ‘earn as much money’ as he can for his family before the sentencing.

Her family remembered her as a ‘bright, kind and beautiful soul’ who was killed while eating lunch outside.

The scene of an incident involving a van in The Strand, central London. Picture date: Tuesday March 18, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story POLICE Van . Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire
Students had been sitting outside in the sun when tragedy struck (Picture: PA)

She was in her second year of a physics and philosophy degree, according to the university’s website.

 

A court heard previously that the van collided with a metal gate, knocking it off its hinges, before hitting the bench where Ms Mahomed was sitting.

Two other people, Irem Yoldas and Yamin Belmessous, were injured in the incident.

One politics student, who asked not to be named, told Metro at the time of the accident:‘I was with some friends near the bench. There was a gust of wind, and we got cold in that spot, so we moved.

Undated handout photo issued by the Metropolitan Police of Aalia Mahomed, 20. Christopher Jackson, 27, of Southampton, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving at the Old Bailey on Monday. Aalia, who was studying at King's College London, died after being struck by a van driven by Jackson. in the Strand on March 18 last year. Issue date: Monday February 02, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Aalia, 20, who was studying at King’s College London, died at the scene on the Strand on March 18 last year (Credits: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire)

‘Seconds later, a van came out and hit a group where we had been. A woman who saw what happened was hysterical. A woman on the ground was holding her head. She was still breathing.

‘There were three people altogether across the path injured. It was carnage. I escaped death by seconds.’

She described how the driver of the vehicle got out and went to help the injured.

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