Trump asked to waive diplomatic immunity
Johnson will tell Trump that envoy’s partner must return to UK to face justice over death of 19-year-old
Boris Johnson has said he will urge Donald Trump to step in over a diplomatic immunity row as it emerged an American alleged to have killed a British teenager had previously been fined for failing to drive with due care and attention. Mr Johnson said Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomat, should return to the UK to face justice over the death of 19-year-old Harry Dunn. Mrs Sacoolas and her family were swiftly spirited back to the US after the incident.
BORIS JOHNSON has said he will urge Donald Trump to intervene personally in a diplomatic immunity row as it emerged an American alleged to have killed a British teenager had previously been fined for failing to drive with due care and attention.
The Prime Minister insisted that Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomat, should return to the UK to face justice over the death of 19-year-old Harry Dunn.
Mrs Sacoolas, 42, and her family were swiftly spirited back to the US after she allegedly hit the motorcyclist while driving on the wrong side of the road near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire three weeks after they had arrived in the UK.
The US has refused to waive her diplomatic immunity, leading to an international outcry.
Mr Johnson said: “I do not think that it can be right to use the process of diplomatic immunity for this type of purpose. I hope that Anne Sacoolas will come back and will engage properly with the processes of law as they are carried out in this country.”
He said that Downing Street was due to raise the issue with the US ambassador yesterday, but added: “If we can’t resolve it then of course I will be raising it myself personally with the White House.”
Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, is also involved in the case and was due to speak with Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, on the telephone last night.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said that Mr Johnson would raise it with the US president in a separate call, noting that the “specific details” of this case were “extremely concerning”.
Government sources pointed to the fact that while the UK has allowed Britons to be repatriated from the US, the US rarely if ever does the same in return. Mrs Sacoolas is understood to have admitted liability at the scene of the crash, on Aug 27, and indicated she would fully co-operate with police. Her 12-year-old son was a passenger in the car, The Daily Telegraph understands.
But when Mr Dunn died in hospital the following day, lawyers and embassy officials immediately stepped in. Court records show that Mrs Sacoolas admitted failing to pay full attention while driving in her native state of Virginia in 2006. She paid a fine and did not have to attend court.
The mother-of-three and her husband Jonathan, 43, rented out their large four-bedroom property in picturesque Vienna when they moved to the UK two months ago and there was no sign of them at the house yesterday. When the couple wed in Annandale, Virginia, in 2003, Mrs Sacoolas was working for the US state department in Washington DC, according to a marriage announcement. She had previously studied psychology at the University of South Carolina.
Her husband, believed to have been working in US intelligence, was raised in Salem, Oregon and studied electrical engineering at the University of Southern California before working for the department of defence.
Their three children were briefly enrolled in the £19,000-a-year Winchester House independent school in Brackley, Northants, where Mr Dunn’s father, Tim, is employed as head of maintenance.
Mr Dunn and the teenager’s mother, Charlotte Charles, have vowed not to
‘We’ve got no answers, we’ve got nothing from her to say that she’s remorseful. We’re appalled, disgusted’
give up their fight for justice, warning that if the Americans thought they would just quietly accept the situation “they had picked the wrong family”.
The pair, who are separated, have given a series of emotional interviews, breaking down as they appealed for help in getting justice for their son, who has a twin brother.
Mrs Charles, 44, told US network NBC: “We’ve got no answers, we’ve got nothing from her to say that she’s remorseful. We’re appalled, disgusted, we haven’t started to grieve properly yet because nothing’s at rest. We can’t see how she can’t come back.”
It is the second time in a year that the US has refused to waive diplomatic immunity after a fatal crash. Last May, an American diplomat alleged to have hit and killed a man in Islamabad was quickly flown back to the US.