The parent's of Harry Dunn, the UK teen killed by a US diplomats wife, talk to Sky News UK of their grief. / Sky News
An American woman, the wife of a US diplomat, has fled the United Kingdom after killing a British teenager in a wrong-way collision, authorities said Saturday. Harry Dunn died after the woman allegedly collided with Dunn's motorcycle near the Royal Air Force Croughton station, which is operated by the US Air Force.
Offering his sympathies to the family for their "tragic loss," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said yesterday that he hoped the woman, who has been identified as 42-year-old Anne Sacoolas, would return to Britain to face justice.
Speaking to the BBC, Johnson said: "I hope that Anne Sacoolas will come back and will engage properly with the processes of law as they are carried out in this country."
Anne Sacoolas was allegedly travelling on the wrong side of the road for more than 300m before hitting Harry Dunn head-on.
"If we can't resolve it, then of course I will be raising it myself personally with the White House," he continued. (The State Department declined to confirm her identity after Johnson's statement.)
Sacoolas had only arrived in Britain with her husband Jonathan Sacoolas in early August with their three children. Her 12-year-old son was reportedly in the passenger seat when she crashed into Harry Dunn. The entire family fled the UK in September.
The death sparked widespread outrage after authorities revealed that Sacoolas claimed diplomatic immunity under international law, allowing her to avoid prosecution and leaving British authorities and Dunn's loved ones to demand that she return to face the consequences of her actions.
In an emotional plea on Saturday, Dunn's parents begged US President Donald Trump to intervene and to send Sacoolas back to Britain.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he hopes that Anne Sacoolas will return to Britain to face justice. Photo / AP
"President Trump, please listen," Dunn's mother, Charlotte Charles, said in an interview with Sky News. "We're a family in ruin. We're broken. We can't grieve. Please, please, let her get back on a plane, come back to the UK . . . We could understand how she's feeling, but more importantly, she needs to face justice, see what she's done."
Under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, family members of diplomats living in other countries are covered by immunity, allowing them to avoid arrest for virtually any crime and escape civil liability in most circumstances. However, the diplomat's home country can waive immunity - and that's what British authorities and Dunn's loved ones are calling for in this case.
Nick Adderley, chief constable for the Northamptonshire Police, said Sunday that both he and the police chief have asked the US Embassy "in the strongest terms" to waive the woman's immunity "in order to allow the justice process to take place."
In a statement Sunday to the Washington Post, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that he "called the US ambassador to express the UK's disappointment with their decision, and to urge the embassy to reconsider it."
Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has urged the US Embassy to reconsider their stance on giving diplomatic immunity to Anne Sacoolas, who crashed into Harry Dunn on August 27. Photo / AP
A State Department spokesperson said in a statement to The Post that "immunity is rarely waived," adding that officials are in "close consultation" with British officials but that officials could not elaborate on private conversations. The spokesperson said the State Department offered its "deepest sympathies" for the Dunn family.
"Any questions regarding a waiver of immunity with regard to our diplomats and their family members overseas in a case like this receive intense attention at senior levels and are considered carefully given the global impact such decisions carry," the spokesperson said.
Following the revelation Saturday that Sacoolas had fled, Dunn's parents launched a #Justice4Harry campaign that has since drawn the attention of British lawmakers and thousands of supporters. Charles told Sky News that there was "barely a day that went by where [Harry] didn't go out riding on his bike," racking up 80,000km of travel on his black Kawasaki.
Harry Dunn, 19, was killed on August 27 in a car crash in Northamptonshire allegedly caused by a diplomat's wife. Photo / Facebook
A fundraising page that was created to help the family with their quest for justice has attracted hundreds of donations, with more than £6955 ($13,600) raised so far. "Harry's loss has left an enormous hole in the lives of the family and they are understandably going through a shattering and life changing time," the page reads.
Dunn's family said he was hit around 8.30pm about 360m from the Air Force facility. Dunn died at a hospital, Northamptonshire Police said.
During the investigation, the American woman cooperated "fully" with police, and even assured them "she had no plans to leave the country in the near future," Northamptonshire Police Superintendent Sarah Johnson said in a statement Saturday.
But then police learned the driver would be claiming diplomatic immunity, and they made an immediate waiver request to the US Embassy in London, a spokeswoman told the Post. That request was denied, she said.
The crash took place in August outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire a US intelligence hub in Britain. Photo / Google
"We're disgusted, appalled, how she could be having this cloak wrapped around her," Dunn's father, Tim Dunn, told Sky News. "I'm angry that someone could do this and then get on a plane and go.
"I can't believe she's living with herself," he added.
American diplomats have been involved in numerous overseas deaths in recent decades, but they have largely avoided punishment under diplomatic immunity, even amid tense pressure from the countries where those incidents took place.
It's unclear whether pressure from British lawmakers will sway US officials after they have already facilitated the 42-year-old woman's return to the country and shielded her identity.
Angela Rayner, a member of Parliament and the Labour Party's shadow education secretary, said on Twitter that "diplomatic rules should not be used in this case."
"This is heartbreaking and nobody can be above the law," Rayner wrote, using the #Justice4Harry hashtag. "If you are here in the UK then you must abide by our own rules. This family deserve answers and respect shown to their son."
