Woman who f led Britain after teen’s crash death ‘is wife of American spy’
Grieving parents vow: We will pursue her to US to get justice
AN AMERICAN woman who fled Britain after a teenage boy on a motorbike died in a collision with her car is married to a US spy, it was claimed last night.
She claimed diplomatic immunity and flew out of the country soon after the accident because the American authorities wanted to ensure her husband’s identity was not compromised.
Harry Dunn, 19, died after his Suzuki motorbike and the unnamed 42- year- old woman’s Volvo SUV colli ded on a road near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire.
Police have revealed that the woman was driving on the wrong side of the road in the fatal crash, which took place on August 27 but was only reported last Friday.
Last night Northamptonshire Police said it is preparing to send a file to the Crown Prosecution Service and believe the driver may be
‘She was driving on the wrong side of the road’
charged with causing death by dangerous driving.
The boy’s parents yesterday vowed to pursue the driver to America if necessary to ensure she faces justice.
Northamptonshire Police said that the woman who was the suspect in the investigation cooperated with detectives in the early stages, as the police applied to the US to waive her diplomatic immunity.
But by September 15, she and her family fled the country. Mr Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, was informed by detectives shortly afterwards.
RAF Croughton is on lease to the US Government, which is using it as a state-of-the art spying station called the Joint Intelligence Analysis Centre (JIAC).
Although police questioned the mother-of-three, detectives could not arrest or charge her because she claimed diplomatic immunity as her husband is an envoy to Britain. But last night, a spokesman for the family of Mr Dunn told The Mail on Sunday that the husband was actually a senior spy who was working in the UK using the cover of a diplomatic role. Radd Seiger, a British-based American lawyer acting as a family spokesman said :‘ He was working at Croughton, which is a communications base, so he was working i with intelligence which is, I guess, why it has been handled in the way that it has.’
Ms Charles, 45, yesterday gave a tearful interview demanding j justice for her son.
Ms Charles, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, said that she will meet Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab this week to demand that the unnamed woman be brought back to the UK. She told the BBC: ‘ We want him [ Raab] to get her back.
‘From me, as a mum, to her, we just hope that he can get through to her that we don’t wish her any ill harm but we don’t understand how she can just get on a plane and leave our family just utterly devastated.’ She added: ‘We don’t understand how that can even happen and we are just really hoping the Foreign Office can get her back so we can talk to her and she can face any justice that our UK authorities are able to bring.’
Ms Charles said that if the American woman was not willing to
‘She flew out claiming diplomatic immunity’
return to the UK, then ‘we would probably go over to the States and do whatever we can over there. Our boy was just too important.’
Earlier, the distraught mother made a direct appeal to Donald Trump, saying: ‘President Trump, please listen.
‘We’re a family in ruin. We’re broken. We can’t grieve. Please, please let her get back on the plane.’
Ms Charles, who works in a GP surgery, said that the US government and the Ministry of Defence have until now tried to brush the death of her son under the carpet.
The incident has caused a diplomatic row between the British and US governments, with Dominic Raab saying t hat he was ‘ disappointed’ by the way the Americans have behaved.
Mr Raab said: ‘I have called the US ambassador to express the UK’s disappointment with their decision, and to urge the embassy to reconsider it.’ He added: ‘I wish to offer my condolences to the family affected by this tragic incident. ’
A US State Department spokesman said: ‘Due to security and privacy considerations, we cannot confirm the identity of the individuals involved. We can confirm the family has left the UK.’