The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Harry Dunn crash suspect’s offer of community service is rebuffed
The justice secretary has dismissed an offer for Harry Dunn death-crash suspect Anne Sacoolas to perform community service in the United States.
Robert Buckland responded to comments by Sacoolas’s lawyer – who claimed the charge against her would not usually result in a prison sentence in the US – by describing the case as a “denial of justice”.
US authorities refused a request for the extradition of Sacoolas after asserting diplomatic immunity on her behalf, and she returned to her home country before being charged with causing death by dangerous driving.
Mr Dunn, aged 19, was killed in a crash outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019.
Sacoolas’s lawyer Amy Jeffress has said that her client was not inclined to return to the UK to face trial.
However, Mr Buckland said the priority should be to establish liability for the death of Mr Dunn.
“Here in England and Wales we like to deal with things in their proper order. At the moment there is outstanding a very serious matter relating to alleged driving of this person and the death of a young man who has left behind a family who is naturally not just grief-stricken, but who want justice,” he said.
“As the foreign secretary (Dominic Raab) has said, the current situation is a denial of justice. Rather than talking about the sentence that would be appropriate, let’s actually deal with the question of liability first.”