The family of teenager Harry Dunn, killed by a former US spy, said a damning report into the UK government’s handling of their case was “incredibly painful” to read.
American driver Anne Sacoolas left Britain with diplomatic immunity 19 days after the head-on crash that killed motorbike rider Harry, 19, outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019.
The report into the government’s handling of the case, chaired by Dame Anne Owers, marks the end of a six-year struggle for justice and accountability.
It highlights the point at which Sky News first broke the story of Harry Dunn in October 2019 as a key moment when attention on the case escalated at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
“There was in fact no direct contact between the FCO and the family until 4 October, the day before the Sky News interview was due to go out, when the family was offered a meeting with the foreign secretary himself,” Dame Anne said.
“The family drew the conclusion that this rapid escalation to a very senior level was a direct result of the spotlight of media coverage.”
The report lays bare layer upon layer of failings within the UK government that compounded Harry’s parents’ grief and anguish.
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Harry’s mother Charlotte Charles, a campaigner for road safety, said it was “incredibly painful” to read.
“The report confirms what we have lived with every day for more than six years, that our family was not treated with the honesty or urgency that any grieving parent deserves,” she said, welcoming the findings.
His father Tim Dunn said: “We knew our own government would be useless to us and this report confirms what we knew in those early days. The UK was no match for the US.”
Dame Anne criticised the UK government’s initial handling of the case and subsequent years.
“This issue was not recognised as a crisis and escalated to a sufficiently high level at an early stage, losing opportunities to influence, rather than respond to, events,” she said in the report.
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Dame Anne said the US showed “immediate high-level interest” and took “an inflexible approach” after Sacoolas had flown back to America.
“On the UK side this was initially treated as business as usual,” Dame Anne said in the report.
In 2022, Sacoolas admitted causing death by careless driving, but she remained in the US and appeared in a UK court via video link, something the report described as “unprecedented remote proceedings”.
The former spy refused to return to the UK for sentencing. In her absence, she was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence and driving ban.
The diplomatic loophole that Sacoolas and the US government exploited when she left, claiming immunity, has since been closed.
Read more:
Harry Dunn killer apologises
His family’s complaint against former police chief
Criticism over lack of driver training at US base
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Driver safety initiatives at US bases in the UK have also been improved.
Dame Anne also made 12 recommendations to improve communications and support for families, as well as transparency around complex diplomatic arrangements at military bases like RAF Croughton.
