Harry Dunn crash: Police to fly to US to interview diplomat's wife

21 October 2019, 20:41

Police investigating the death of Harry Dunn will go to America to interview the suspect, after it was announced that the UK had been warned that the suspect would leave the country.

"The chief constable will speak to the press tomorrow (Tuesday) and confirm that officers will visit the US and conduct an interview with the suspect," a source told Sky News.

It is not known whether a meeting has been arranged.

Earlier Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the House of Commons that his department was informed that suspect Anne Sacoolas, a US diplomat's wife, would be taken out of the UK imminently following the crash.

However he said the UK's objection and attempts to have her stay for "justice to be done" were unsuccessful, and that UK police were unable to legally prevent Mrs Sacoolas from leaving.

Mr Raab has commissioned a review of the rules of diplomatic immunity in relation to Harry Dunn's death.

"As this case has demonstrated, I do not believe the current arrangements are right and the review will look at how we can make sure that the arrangements at Croughton cannot be used in this way again," Mr Raab said.

He said the case is now with the Crown Prosecution Service and that he has committed to fight for justice for the family.

19-year-old Harry Dunn was killed when his motorbike was involved in a head-on collision outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August.

The suspect, 42-year-old Anne Sacoolas - who is married to a US intelligence official, left for the US following the crash and was granted diplomatic immunity.

Harry Dunn's parents have claimed they have been repeatedly "lied to" by officials but will continue fighting for their son.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry raised several questions to Dominic Raab, including on why it took so long for the family to be informed that suspect Anne Sacoolas had returned to the US.

Harry's parents also cancelled a meeting with the chief constable of Northamptonshire Police after they realised he would not be answering "a series of key questions".

Instead the parents had been told that the meeting would be "a private and personal visit to express condolences".

Radd Seiger, the family's spokesman, said the time for condolences had "long since past" but the time for "answers and truth is long overdue".

Ms Sacoolas is believed to have been driving on the wrong side of the road at the time of the crash.

Signs have since been placed there to say "drive on the left".

Mr Raab stressed says the government position is that Mrs Sacoolas' immunity ended when she left the UK.

Earlier this month the victim's parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, took a flight to the USA to "put pressure on the US administration to do the right thing".

Speaking at a press conference in the US, Harry Dunn's mother said the American woman suspected of causing her son's death, should be brought back to the UK to face justice, saying: "It's the right thing to to do. It's the humane thing to do."

Harry Dunn's parents previously met with Dominic Raab to seek help but said they were "angry and frustrated" at the outcome of their meeting, saying it felt like "a publicity stunt".