Anne Sacoolas has been charged with causing the death by dangerous driving of Harry Dunn (Picture: Justice 4 Harry/Facebook)

An American diplomat’s wife has been charged over the death of British teenager Harry Dunn.

Anne Sacoolas, 42, is charged with causing the death by dangerous driving of Harry, 19, the family’s spokesman Radd Seiger said.

Harry was killed when a car Sacoolas was allegedly driving crashed into his motorbike outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August.

She was granted diplomatic immunity after the crash and flew back to the US, despite the Foreign Office later saying her husband was not a registered diplomat in a recognised role.


Harry’s family have fought for Sacoolas to be charged in relation to his death and today called the decision ‘justice’.



The decision to charge her came just under seven weeks after a file of evidence was handed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) by police on 1 November.

Harry’s family react to the news outside the Ministry Of Justice in London today (Picture: PA)

Harry Dunn was killed in a car crash in August (Picture: PA)

In the last three months the family has launched separate legal battles – a judicial review against the Foreign Office, a referral of Northamptonshire Police to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, an investigation into the US administration’s handling of the case and a civil claim against Sacoolas herself.

They even took their fight to the US where they met with President Donald Trump at the White House to state their case for Sacoolas returning to the UK.

The meeting sparked controversy after it emerged that Sacoolas was sat in a room next door in the White House, ready to meet with Harry’s parents – an offer the teenager’s family refused.

Today, Harry’s mother Charlotte Charles described the decision to charge Sacoolas as a ‘huge step’ towards seeking the justice she had promised her son.

Speaking outside the CPS headquarters in London, she said: ‘We feel that we have made a huge step in the start of achieving the promise to Harry that we made.

‘We made that promise to him the night we lost him to seek justice thinking it was going to be really easy.

‘We had no idea it was going to be so hard and it would take so long but we feel it is a huge step towards that promise we made Harry.’

The charge came days after ITV News filmed Anne Sacoolas at the wheel of her car reversing out of a driveway in Virginia, US, in footage that left Harry’s mother ‘devastated’ (Picture: ITV)

Charlotte Charles, the mother of Harry Dunn, launched legal battles against Anne Sacoolas and Northamptonshire Police over the handling of her son’s case (Picture: PA)

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Sacoolas was twice interviewed by Northamptonshire Police – once on the day after the crash, and on another occasion by officers who travelled to the US.

Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, families of diplomats are granted immunity from arrest or detention, with the sending state able to issue a waiver of that immunity.

According to the CPS, the immunity does not apply to dependents of consular officials based outside of London.

The US State Department said it is ‘disappointed’ at the decision to charge Sacoolas and said it fears ‘it will not bring a resolution closer’.

Extradition between the US and the UK is governed by a treaty signed by both countries in 2003, and requests prepared by the CPS are sent by the Home Office to the requested state – in this case the US – through the diplomatic route.

Sacoolas was twice interviewed by British police after the crash (Picture: Facebook)

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab earlier said a review into the immunity arrangements at RAF Croughton for US personnel and their families had concluded.



It found that it was an ‘anomaly’ that family members had ‘greater protection from UK criminal jurisdiction than the officers themselves’.

Mr Raab added: ‘On the basis of the Review, I have instructed my officials to begin discussions with the US on the most effective way to address this anomaly.’

The charge against Sacoolas came just days after Harry’s mother was left ‘utterly devastated’ by footage which showed the suspect reversing out of her driveway at her home in the state of Virginia.

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