U.K. says immunity of U.S. diplomat’s wife ‘no longer relevant’

LONDON — The diplomatic immunity of Anne Sacoolas, the American woman who is a suspect in a road crash that killed Harry Dunn, a British teenager, is “no longer relevant” in the case, Britain’s foreign secretary has said.

Sacoolas, the 42-year-old wife of a diplomat, fled Britain using diplomatic immunity after police in Northamptonshire, England, suspected her of being the driver of a car that they say had been traveling on the wrong side of the road when it collided with a motorcycle ridden by Dunn, 19, in August.

Britain and the United States have been involved in a diplomatic tug-of-war over the case, but Dominic Raab, the British foreign secretary, said in a letter to the Dunn family Saturday that Sacoolas’ immunity no longer applied because she had gone back to the United States.

“The U.K. Government’s position is that immunity, and therefore any question of waiver, is no longer relevant in Mrs. Sacoolas’ case, because she has returned home,” Raab said in the letter that was shared with the New York Times on Sunday.

“The U.S. have now informed us that they, too, consider that immunity is no longer pertinent,” Raab said.

He added that the matter was now in the hands of Northamptonshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

The news came as a spokesman for the Dunn family, Radd Seiger, said Sacoolas’ lawyer had also been in touch and said she wanted to meet.

“She reached out to me yesterday, and we’ve agreed that she and I will get together at the earliest possible convenience,” Seiger said by phone Sunday.

Sacoolas was said to be “devastated by this tragic incident,” according to a statement made on her behalf by her lawyer, Amy Jeffress. “No loss compares to the death of a child, and Anne extends her deepest sympathy to Harry Dunn’s family,” the statement said.