We're good, we're good." Should diplomatic immunity be scrapped? "That was something she never thought she'd see, something the US government never thought they'd see. "Anne Sacoolas has a criminal record for the rest of her life," Harry's mother said outside court. The judge handed down an eight-month prison term, suspended for 12 months, meaning Sarcoolas would only face prison if she commits another crime in Britain in the next year. US President Joe Biden said he was "actively engaged" in the case and in November this year Sacoolas pleaded guilty via video link to the lesser charge of careless driving.ĭespite the Dunn family's wish for Sarcoolas to face court, she did not return to the UK for the sentencing hearing on Thursday. "She was working as a spy for the National Security Agency of America and perhaps that explains why the Americans were so keen to grant her diplomatic immunity," Mr Stephens said.Ī change of leadership in the US in 2020 saw a change in tone. Lawyer Mark Stephens believes it was Sacoolas's highly secretive role within the US government that prevented the White House from giving her up. The Dunn family launched a global campaign to have Sacoolas returned to the UK and held accountable for Harry's death. Harry's parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, were not told the police could not charge their son's killer until after she had left the country. In a statement released by her lawyers, Sacoolas said she was "terribly, terribly sorry for the tragic mistake" and she extended "her deepest sympathy to Harry Dunn's family".īack home in Virginia, Sacoolas no longer qualified for diplomatic immunity but was out of Britain's reach. The US government refused the UK's request to waive the diplomatic immunity, and instead it arranged for a private plane to return Sacoolas and her family to the US. "She could not have been arrested because she was inviolable, so she could not have been physically prevented from leaving the country and she could not have been prosecuted at that point," Dr Pert told the ABC. ( Reuters)Īdjunct associate professor at the University of Sydney Law School Alison Pert said British police were powerless in the face of her diplomatic immunity. Harry Dunn's parents travelled to the United States in 2019 to plead for their son's killer to face the court. Sacoolas initially cooperated with police, agreeing to meet them the following day to answer questions about the fatal incident.īut the investigation stalled when the officers were told she was the wife of a diplomat. Sacoolas had been in the UK for less than a month when, at about 8pm on August 27, she had a head-on collision with Harry's motorcycle while driving her Volvo SUV on the wrong side of the road.Ĭourt documents show Harry sustained severe injuries but was able to tell police officers what had happened. Under the Vienna Convention, spouses and dependents of foreign diplomats are entitled to full diplomatic immunity while in their host country. Sacoolas also worked for a US security agency but was registered in the UK as the spouse of a diplomat "with no official role". She lived at RAF Croughton, a military base in central England, where her husband worked for the CIA. Sacoolas moved to the UK with her husband, Jonathan Sacoolas, and their children in July 2019. The protracted case has put a spotlight on diplomatic immunity and prompted calls for the rules to be changed. She was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for a year. Sacoolas has never returned to the UK and appeared via video link at the Old Bailey on Thursday (local time) for her sentencing after the US government advised her not to travel to attend in person. Harry's death started a three-year tug of war between the US and the UK, as his parents followed their pursuit of justice to the White House. The driver, 45-year-old Anne Sacoolas, fled the United Kingdom on a private plane 19 days later, shielded by diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf by the United States government as the "wife of a diplomat". He'd ridden more than 80,000 kilometres before his death. His family described the 19-year-old as "bubbly and outgoing" with a passion for riding motorbikes. On a summer's day in 2019, Harry Dunn was riding his motorcycle near an army base used by US troops in Northamptonshire, England, when he was hit and killed by an American '"spy" driving on the wrong side of the road.
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