Grieving family says suspect does not have diplomatic immunity

JUSTICE: FCO letter said to state US woman does not have status

“She will continue to co-operate.

LAWYER FOR ANNE SACOOLAS

The family of 19-year-old Harry Dunn said the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has written to them to say a US suspect in the case does not have diplomatic immunity.

The teenager died when his motorbike was in collision with a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27.

The suspect, 42-year-old Anne Sacoolas – reportedly married to a US intelligence official – was granted diplomatic immunity after the crash.

But family spokesman Radd Seiger said Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has written to Mr Dunn’s family saying: “The US have now informed us that they too consider that immunity is no longer pertinent.”

The letter, sent by Dominic Raab to the family, said: “We have pressed strongly for a waiver of immunity, so that justice can be done... Whilst the US government has steadfastly declined to give that waiver, that is not the end of the matter.

“We have looked at this very carefully... The UK 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.”

Mr Raab said the matter was now “in the hands” of Northamptonshire Police and the CPS.

Mrs Sacoolas’s legal representative Amy Jeffress, of Arnold & Porter, said: “Anne is devastated by this tragic accident.”

Earlier, Mrs Sacoolas’s lawyer said Mrs Sacoolas spoke with “authorities” at the scene of the crash and met Northampton police at her home the following day.

“She will continue to co-operate with the investigation.”

Mr Seiger said he had spoken with Ms Jeffress and the pair had agreed “to get together asap... to discuss how we are going to achieve a solution”.

He added that he was studying the FCO letter “with legal and political experts” to “fully understand where that leaves us”.