Harry Dunn family ‘confident’ criminal case against Anne Sacoolas will go ahead
It comes after parents reach ‘resolution’ with alleged killer in civil claim for damages
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Your support makes all the difference.Harry Dunn’s parents are “confident” a criminal case will go ahead against the teenage motorcyclist’s alleged killer after reaching a resolution in a civil claim for damages.
The Dunn family’s spokesperson, Radd Seiger, said they were “very confident the criminal case is going to be brought soon” after both parties “successfully” reached an agreement.
He told BBC Breakfast: “Boris Johnson made it clear at the G7 summit in June in Cornwall that the path to justice had been cleared.
“Both Charlotte and I were honoured to meet the new foreign secretary Liz Truss yesterday over the phone and she made it clear that there was nothing now standing in the way of that happening.
“We are just in the hands of the CPS waiting to hear how they’re going to do this.”
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Newly-appointed foreign secretary Liz Truss insisted the civil claim resolution was “absolutely not” the end of the matter as she vowed on Tuesday to continue the fight to get the teenager’s alleged killer, Anne Sacoolas, to return to the UK to face “justice”.
Nineteen-year-old Harry died after his motorbike was involved in a collision with a car driven by Ms Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomat, near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August 2019.
She was charged with causing death by dangerous driving in connection with the incident, however the US government rejected the UK’s extradition request the following month.
Mr Dunn’s parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, have spent the last two years campaigning for Ms Sacoolas to face the UK justice system after diplomatic immunity was asserted on her behalf shortly after the collision.
The damages claim unearthed a great deal of previously unheard material, such as the State Department roles held by the 43-year-old and her husband at the time of the crash.
Boris Johnson, who met Joe Biden in the White House on Tuesday, said the US president was “personally trying to move things along” in the case.
However Mr Biden gave no indication he was ready to reverse the refusal to extradite Ms Sacoolas when challenged over the case by reporters.
Asked whether the State Department employee would be sent to the UK to face justice in a criminal court, he said only that the case was being “worked on” and he was not aware of its current status.
He defended Ms Sacoolas, saying the crash was “not an intentional act”, based on what he had been told.