Dunn mother calls for Raab to resign over family’s treatment
THE MOTHER of Harry Dunn has called for the Foreign Secretary’s resignation over his department’s handling of her son’s death.
Charlotte Charles said the way the Government had dealt with her family was “beyond words”.
Documents showed that a senior diplomat at the FCO had sent a text message to their US Embassy counterpart saying they should “feel able” to put suspect Anne Sacoolas on the next flight home.
Initial disclosure documents, which surfaced earlier this year, showed a briefing note copied to Dominic Raab’s private secretary from three days after the fatal crash. The document referenced oncern over some “very unpalatable headlines”.
Mr Dunn was killed when his motorbike crashed into a car near a US military base in Northamptonshire on August 27 last year.
Anne Sacoolas, 42, the wife of a US intelligence official based at RAF Croughton, claimed diplomatic immunity and was able to return to her home country.
She was charged with causing death by dangerous driving in December, but an extradition request for Sacoolas submitted by the Home Office was rejected by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in January – a decision later described by the State Department as “final”.
Addressing her reasons for calling for Mr Raab’s resignation, Mrs Charles said: “Any parent out there who has lost a child will understand what we are going through as a family.
“But as if all that was not enough, what on earth did this government think it was doing treating us the way they did? It is beyond words. You wouldn’t treat an animal the way Government treated us.”
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “Both the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister have been clear with the US that the refusal to extradite Anne Sacoolas amounts to a denial of justice, and that she should return to the UK. We are committed to revising the arrangements at RAF Croughton to ensure they cannot be used in this way again.
“The Foreign Secretary remains ready to meet Harry’s family and to support them to get the justice they deserve.”