Our Story:

Our wonderful Harry was killed on 27 August 2019 in a tragic accident involving Anne Sacoolas, the wife of an American who was working at the United States facility at RAF Croughton. Mrs Sacoolas was driving on the wrong side of the road when the accident happened.



This crowdfunder is to support us, Harry’s mum and dad, in our Judicial Review case in the High Court in England against Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and the Northamptonshire Police.

Our case is that the Foreign Office and police were wrong to agree with the United States that Mrs Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity and to let her flee the UK.

Why it matters:

The case is important because it will allow us to find out the truth about what happened in the hours and days after Harry’s death and why Anne Sacoolas was allowed to leave the UK. We have found out recently that Anne Sacoolas was herself a CIA agent. We also know that the Foreign Office told the police to conceal the fact that Anne Sacoolas had left the UK from the family. The Foreign Office have refused so far to give us any documentation. We suspect that all is not what it seems.

The case isn’t just about Harry’s death. It will also will decide the legal boundaries of diplomatic immunity. Mr Raab’s position is that the UK can grant immunity (which is really impunity) to hundreds of people working on an American intelligence base almost 100 miles away from the US Embassy in London - basically anyone they want to, whether they are a diplomat or not. We say that is wrong and needs to be challenged.

We say that is wrong in law and Mrs Sacoolas never had immunity.



It is important for a third reason. The Home Office has now charged Mrs Sacoolas with death by dangerous driving and has requested her extradition. The Trump Administration has refused that request, arguing that it would be an “abuse” to extradite someone who has diplomatic immunity. That is simply not acceptable. Whether someone has diplomatic immunity or not is a question for the courts to decide, and at no point has a court been given that opportunity.

Please help us achieve justice for Harry and ensure that diplomatic immunity doesn’t mean diplomatic impunity.

Why we are fundraising:

Dominic Raab confirmed on 26 November 2019 in a letter to the family’s lawyers that he will be seeking to recover the Foreign Office's costs of these legal proceedings from Harry’s parents. We have asked him repeatedly to reverse this decision but he hasn’t. This case is likely to be appealed and could go all the way to the Supreme Court, so the costs risk to the family could be upwards of £100,000.

Mr Raab has instructed the Government’s top barrister, Sir James Eadie QC, who acted in the prorogation case, as well as an international law professor, a senior junior barrister and solicitors from the Government Legal Department. This doesn’t come cheap and we are not wealthy people who could afford a huge costs order against us.

Now that our first hearing is approaching, it is very important that we can protect ourself from the risk of having to pay Dominic Raab’s lawyers’ costs and also have enough money to pay our legal team.

We have instructed two leading human rights barristers from Doughty Street Chambers, Geoffrey Robertson QC and Adam Wagner, and top solicitor Mark Stephens CBE, to fight our case, and are supported by two professors specialising in diplomatic practice. Although our legal team have agreed to act for lower than their normal fees, this could be a long battle leading all the way to the Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights.

Summary of our case

Harry Dunn was tragically killed in a road traffic accident on 27 August 2019 after his motorcycle was hit by a car driving on the wrong side of the road. The car was being driven by Anne Sacoolas, an American woman whose husband worked at the nearby military base, RAF Croughton.

The police interviewed Mrs Sacoolas at the scene but within hours were told that she had ‘diplomatic immunity’ so couldn’t be arrested or charged under UK law. Around two weeks later, she fled the UK and is now in the United States. The news of her leaving the UK was deliberately concealed from Harry’s family for 11 days by the police and the Foreign Office.

Last year Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, told Parliament that the Foreign Office concluded Mrs Sacoolas had immunity because of a secret 1995 treaty between the UK and USA regarding the diplomatic status of the RAF Croughton base and its American staff. Although this agreement made clear that staff themselves would only have diplomatic immunity when doing official acts, and it doesn’t mention family members at all, Mr Raab believes that it granted the family of staff full immunity. He admitted this was an “anomaly” which has never been tested by the courts.

We believe that the Foreign Office is wrong and that Anne Sacoolas did not have diplomatic immunity. We are concerned that the Foreign Secretary was pressured by the United States to interpret the law in a way which allowed her to escape justice. The Foreign Office have now disclosed the secret treaties to us, although they have refused to disclose any discussions with the Americans or any advice that may have been given to the police.

Two eminent academic experts, Professor Ivor Roberts and Professor Craig Barker, are supporting our case. They are both the view that Mrs Sacoolas had no immunity.

Why it’s important to bring the case

It is important to bring this case because:

(1) Dominic Raab and the police were wrong to accept the United States’ controversial interpretation of the law and advise the police that she had immunity. It is for the courts, not the Foreign Secretary, to decide whether someone has diplomatic immunity. It is important that the High Court rule conclusively that she did not. This will help in the family’s battle to seek Mrs Sacoolas’ extradition and get justice for Harry.

(2) There are currently hundreds of United States intelligence staff and their families who may or may not have full immunity and we need to make sure that the law is clarified urgently. Harry’s death has unearthed the secret UK-US treaty which apparently grants immunity to hundreds of American intelligence staff and their families at RAF Croughton. But the extent of that immunity is unclear and untested. We say that the Foreign Office had no legal power to make such an agreement and that it goes beyond its ‘prerogative’ powers to grant full criminal immunity to family members but not the diplomatic staff themselves.

(3) We believe that the secret treaty breaches the UK’s human rights obligations, particularly the right to a fair trial (which requires access to the courts) and the right to life, which requires deaths are fully and effectively investigated.

The next steps:

The Foreign Office have denied that they advised the police that Mrs Sacoolas had the benefit of immunity. The police have said they were entitled to take the Foreign Office advice. They can’t both be right.

We have applied for an order from the court compelling the Foreign Office to release certain documents that should reveal the truth of the matter, including (amongst other things) their correspondence with the police.

The Court has ordered that the case will be heard by a ‘Divisional’ court (two high court judges) and that a ‘rolled up’ hearing will take place in the coming weeks. This process is reserved for the most important cases.

We intend to publish our full legal position in due course.

Thank you for your time.