Harry’s mother marks year-long fight for justice
HARRY Dunn’s mother yesterday vowed to carry on the family’s fight for justice as she marked the first anniversary of her son’s death.
Charlotte Charles said the family were “very, very proud” of their efforts to ensure no one would suffer like they had after a loophole allowing Harry’s alleged killer to claim diplomatic immunity was closed.
Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence official, claimed immunity following a road crash near a military base in Northamptonshire which resulted in the 19-year-old motorcyclist’s death.
One of the ambitions of the Dunn family’s campaign was to close the loophole that allowed Sacoolas to claim immunity and return to the US, a matter that was resolved by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in July.
Mrs Charles said she will not stop campaigning until Sacoolas has faced the UK justice system.
The 42-year-old American was able to return to her home country but was charged with causing death by dangerous driving in December.The US State Department has since rejected an extradition request for Sacoolas, saying that the decision was final.
Reflecting on her campaign for justice, Mrs Charles said: “I’m feeling really positive in the sense of what the campaign has achieved and how much hard work we’ve put into it, it’s definitely paying off.
“On a personal level, realising that we’re a year on from when we lost Harry, it’s very difficult to come to terms with.
“When we think about different steps along the way, it feels like some of those steps were an awfully long time ago – almost in a different lifetime.
“Yet when I think about the last time I held Harry, it seems like yesterday.”
Asked what she felt was the biggest accomplishment of the campaign to date, Mrs Charles said: “By far getting the treaty changed. Harry’s name is in history now, forever written into history. The Harry Dunn Amendment... it just makes us so very, very proud as a family.”
Mrs Charles said the most difficult challenge had been all the trips to the US. She said: “There’s no way we wouldn’t have done any of them, but emotionally that was extremely difficult. It didn’t get any easier.
“From the first trip in October until the last trip just before lockdown, it didn’t get any easier leaving Niall (Harry’s twin brother) at home and leaving my treasured bits behind that I still have around the house.
“On the last trip I actually took photos of them before I went so I could have them with me. Travel is hard.”
Mrs Charles, alongside Harry’s father, Tim Dunn, have seen their fight for justice take them to the Foreign Office and the White House, where they met with President
Donald Trump. The family have brought legal claims against both the Foreign Secretary and the US government for their handling of Harry’s death. Commenting on what had kept her going throughout the campaign, Mrs Charles responded: “Harry. The love you have for your child.”
Referring to the pledge she made to her son on the night he died, Mrs Charles said: “That’s what keeps you going. The burning desire to want to complete that promise. It’s the first thing you think of whenever you get a moment. In between everything else we’re doing you just get that quiet moment when you just get that rage of desire all over again to think ‘Come on, we’ve got to drive this forward’. I’ve got to complete that promise I made to him, it doesn’t matter what it takes, I need to do it, I have to do it.”
Asked about what her hopes were for the next 12 months, she said: “That she (Sacoolas) goes through the UK justice system.
“As we’ve said right from the off, you and I would have to do it. It doesn’t matter to me who she is, what her status is, where she lives, what she does for a job. She needs to go through the UK justice system.
“Simple as that. I won’t stop until we’ve got that.”