Harry Dunn death: Parents say they will chase US woman 'to Washington if we have to'
The family of the teenager killed in a crash involving an American woman who later fled the UK using diplomatic immunity have vowed to chase her all the way to the US.
Tim Dunn and Charlotte Charles – parents of tragic Harry Dunn – said they would never give up their fight to bring Anne Sacoolas back to Britain to face justice.
The diplomat’s wife is accused of causing the traffic smash in which their son died near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August.
Police say the 42-year-old had driven 400 yards down the wrong side of the road after pulling out of the base before she smashed into Harry, who was on his beloved motorcycle.
They say officers questioned her at the scene and let her go on the understanding she would not leave the country – but she was whisked back to the US soon after.
Mrs Charles said on Tuesday: "We won't stop. We will go to Washington if we have to, we've taken [legal] advice on that."
She said they would "plead" to President Trump to not only waive Ms Sacoolas' diplomatic immunity, but also "look at the laws" around diplomatic immunity.
Speaking to the BBC, she added: “We have spoken to some American news channels, we've got others lined up. The message is clearly getting out across there.”
She added that the family had received thousands of messages of support from both sides of the Atlantic: “they're all appalled and devastated for us and disgusted that this woman has been allowed to leave the UK,” she said.
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UK urges US to waive diplomatic immunity for Harry Dunn suspect
Her vow came as foreign secretary Dominic Raab met with US Ambassador Woody Johnson in London to urge the country to rethink the diplomatic immunity being given to Ms Sacoolas.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "The foreign secretary met the US Ambassador today and urged the US to reconsider its position and do the right thing by Harry Dunn's family."
The conversation followed soon after Nick Adderley, chief constable of Northamptonshire Police, said he had appealed in "the strongest terms" to US authorities to "allow the justice process to take place".
Boris Johnson has also asked the US to return Ms Sacoolas, saying he would raise it in the White House if necessary.
" I do not think that it can be right to use the process of diplomatic immunity for this type of purpose,” he said. "And I hope that Anne Sacoolas will come back and will engage properly with the processes of law as they are carried out in this country.”
Referring to the Prime Minister’s intervention on Tuesday morning, Mr Dunn senior said: "With Boris Johnson saying what he did, it was nice to feel actually we were getting the support we were trying to get.
"Maybe President Trump will look at this and hopefully look in our favour."
The US itself already has some experience of diplomats being involved in fatal road accidents.
In 1997, Gueorgui Makharadze, the deputy ambassador of Georgia to the US, caused a smash which killed a teenage girl in Washington DC while he was driving over the alcohol limit.
The US asked for his immunity to be waived and Georgia complied. He was convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison.
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Read more UK urges US to waive diplomatic immunity for Harry Dunn suspect
