Harry Dunn's family hits back at 'deeply disturbing' comments by Anne Sacoolas' lawyer
21 December 2019, 18:32
Harry Dunn's parents have criticised the "mind-boggling" claims made by the lawyer for the US woman charged over his death, saying her stance is "deeply disturbing".
A statement from Amy Jeffress, Anne Sacoolas' lawyer, said she had "co-operated fully with the investigation".
She added: "Anne will not return voluntarily to the United Kingdom to face a potential jail sentence for what was a terrible but unintentional accident."
The Dunn family spokesman Radd Seiger said: "I know (Ms Jeffress) to be one of the finest and most outstanding lawyers in the USA. Her statement however boggles the mind and is deeply disturbing.
"For Ms Jeffress to seek to undermine one of the most mature, well-developed legal systems in the world, which has fairness at its heart, and which many countries around the world have modelled their legal systems on, is unbecoming of any lawyer, let alone someone of her stature."
Mr Seiger urged Anne Sacoolas to "put that defence forward in court here rather than ventilate it publicly".
He added: "Like everyone else (in the UK) she will get a fair trial."
Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomat, was charged on Friday with causing the death by dangerous driving of teenager Harry Dunn, who died in a crash in August.
After the charging decision, Harry's mother Charlotte Charles said: "My son died on August 27, doing what he loved most, riding his beloved motorbike.
"He was riding perfectly safely that evening. He had his whole life in front of him and he was taken from us far too young.
"The pain of our loss eats away inside us. It is constant and unrelenting."
The family has led a high-profile campaign for justice after Anne Sacoolas returned to the US after the car she was driving collided with the 19-year-old's motorbike on August 27.
Sacoolas, 42, and her family had been based at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire and she sparked public outrage after claiming diplomatic immunity due to her husband's job.
After the CPS decision on Friday, a spokesman for the US State Department said it was "disappointed", adding it feared the move would "not bring a resolution closer".
The department maintained that Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity at the time of the incident.
It added: "It is the position of the United States government that a request to extradite an individual under these circumstances would be an egregious abuse."
The Dunn family's lawyer Mark Stephens said that if the US authorities refused to return Sacoolas, it would be the first time in the 100-year history of the extradition treaty that they failed to comply.
