Dominic Raab ‘incandescent with rage’ over Sacoolas case
DOMINIC RAAB will today demand the US extradites Anne Sacoolas after being “incandescent with rage” over the Harry Dunn case, the family’s spokesman said.
The Foreign Secretary will meet Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, today in London and will raise Washington’s refusal to return Ms Sacoolas to Britain to face justice.
She has been charged over the death of Mr Dunn, 19, in a road accident outside a Northamptonshire airbase last year. The US said Ms Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity at the time, because her husband was working in Britain as an intelligence officer.
Radd Seiger, the family’s spokesman, said Mr Raab had met the family this week and appeared “incandescent with rage”.
He said: “On a very human level, he is a parent himself, and he made it clear that he is going to tell Pompeo that Sacoolas has to come back. He looked the parents in the eyes and said he was going to demand the return of Anne Sacoolas.”
The Foreign Secretary now faces calls to withhold cooperation in the case of Jeffrey Epstein, and America’s attempts to extradite Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder.
The parents of Mr Dunn said the three cases were diplomatically linked. Mr Seiger said Mr Raab told him in the meeting that he was “reviewing all the options”.
On Monday, a New York prosecutor said that the US authorities had received “zero cooperation” from the Duke of York.
Lisa Bloom, the lawyer representing five of Epstein’s victims, called for reciprocal cooperation.
She said: “I understand diplomatic immunity, but this is not a good look. If we want cooperation we must cooperate in their investigations, too.”
She added: “An American, Anne Sacoolas, will not return to the UK to face questions regarding the death of Harry Dunn outside an American airbase. Some Brits say, ‘This works both ways, maybe if you extradited her we might feel more that Prince Andrew should go to you.’”
Prince Andrew has consistently denied any wrongdoing during his friendship with Epstein, and also denied knowing Epstein had been involved in wrongdoing.
Last night Mr Seiger welcomed a Yougov poll showing that 64 per cent of Americans believed Ms Sacoolas should be returned to the UK to face trial. Only nine per cent thought she should be spared extradition.
He tweeted: “Wow. As we have said all along, this is about right vs wrong and our American friends are with us. They are right. Pompeo is wrong.”
Draught dodger
The Duchess of Cambridge was almost caught out by a gust of wind which threatened her modesty as she arrived for an engagement in London yesterday. The Duchess rushed to smooth down the hem of her Dolce & Gabbana tweed suit when she emerged from her car outside the Evelina London Children’s Hospital. She was due to meet youngsters taking part in creative arts workshops, but the focus shifted to matters of the heart when she was questioned by one of the patients’ mothers about how long it took the Duke to propose to her.
The Duchess told Sarah Ibendahl that William asked her to be his wife on holiday in Kenya, eight years after they started dating. Mrs Ibendahl sympathised, telling Kate it took her husband Ralph the same length of time.
Mrs Ibendahl, from Blackheath, south-east London – whose threeyear-old son Benjamin is being treated at the hospital – said after meeting the Duchess that they had “bonded” over their long courtships.
“When I mentioned it, she laughed politely and gave a knowing smile,” she said.
Schoolboy Luke Wheelerwaddison, 10, took the Duchess’s photograph with an instant camera as he worked on characters for a mini stage he was creating with his sister Savannah, four. Luke, from Kent, who has a congenital heart defect and requires yearly check-ups, presented the Duchess with a rag wreath he had made.
He said: “She said she would love to have the wreath up in Charlotte’s room.”