Apology over ‘upsetting’ emails about Dunn family
THE Foreign Office has apologised for “unprofessional and unacceptable language” used by officials in internal emails about Harry Dunn’s bereaved family.
Documents showed a number of “upsetting” communications criticising his relatives and their media campaign.
One email sent in reaction to a call by the teenager’s mother for Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to resign in May last year labelled her language “excessive”.
Charlotte Charles had said “you wouldn’t treat an animal the way Government treated us”, following a “smoking gun” text message from a senior diplomat at the Foreign Office (FCDO) to their US Embassy counterpart saying they should “feel able” to put suspect Anne Sacoolas on the next flight home.
But commenting on Mrs Charles’ words, one official wrote: “Even aiming for someone bereaved that line about being ‘treated like animals’ is totally excessive!”
The teenager’s mother is understood to be deeply upset.
Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy urged Mr Raab to go to the House to apologise in person, adding: “If he does not come willingly, we will take steps to demand he does.”
FCDO said “the views expressed by a small number officials were deeply inappropriate”, adding that they “in no way represent the views of the FCDO”.
Mr Dunn (19) was killed when his motorbike collided with a car outside US military base RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019.
His alleged killer, 43-year-old US citizen Sacoolas, was able to return to her home country after diplomatic immunity was asserted on her behalf by the US Government.
The Dunn family have been represented by spokesman Radd Seiger since September 2019, but documents show FCDO officials have described him as “evil”, “aggressive” and “erratic” — despite admitting he had played a “media blinder”.
The documents were obtained by the family through subject access requests sent to the Foreign Office and Home Office.
One email read: “Everything the family say is completely wrong. The trouble is they don’t understand anything at all of the wider context — and the evil R (Radd) Seiger has not explained it to them...
“And so convinced are they of everyone’s bad faith that it never crosses their mind that anything of that we are telling them might be true.”