Yahoo News Boris Johnson presses Trump over Harry Dunn suspect returning to UK
Boris Johnson “reiterated the need” for the suspect charged with causing the death of Harry Dunn to return to the UK during a phone call with Donald Trump, according to a Downing Street spokeswoman.
Dunn, 19, died after a crash outside a US military base in Croughton, Northamptonshire, on 27 August 2019.
Anne Sacoolas was charged with causing his death by dangerous driving in December but she left the UK days later when the US government claimed she had diplomatic immunity. Sacoolas is the wife of an intelligence officer who was based in Croughton, and the issue has ignited international controversy.
The US informed the Home Office late on Thursday that it had rejected the extradition request, a decision which has been condemned by politicians and Dunn’s grieving family.
In a phone call with the US president on Friday, the prime minister raised the topic and spoke of the need to secure justice for the teenager’s family.
(August 27, 2019)
19-year-old Harry Dunn is killed following a collision involving Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence official. Sacoolas is believed to have been driving on the wrong side of the road when she hit the teenager riding on his motorbike outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire. She cooperates with police at the scene and is breathalysed. However, this first account is not treated as an interview under caution.
(August 28, 2019)
Officers visit Sacoolas’s address, where she provides an account of events and says she had diplomatic immunity. Northamptonshire police apply for a waiver to render this void. The US embassy notifies the FCO that the spouse of a member of staff at RAF Croughton has been involved in an accident.
(August 29, 2019)
Specially trained liaison officers are embedded with the Dunn family, including parents Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, and Northamptonshire police’s investigation continues in the belief they cannot detain Sacoolas.
(August 30, 2019)
The US asserts that Sacoolas is covered by diplomatic immunity.
(September 5, 2019)
The Foreign Office formally asks the US embassy to waive immunity.
(September 13, 2019)
The FCO is informed by the US embassy that it will not waive immunity and she will be leaving the country, unless the UK has strong objections. However, the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, immediately objects in “strong and clear terms”.
(September 15, 2019)
Sacoolas leaves the UK on a US Air Force plane.
(September 16, 2019)
The FCO approaches the US embassy and is informed Sacoolas has departed. It immediately notifies Northamptonshire police that the waiver has been declined and Sacoolas has left the UK. Officials ask police to delay telling the family by up to two days so it can decide next steps.
(September 23, 2019)
Five days after their son's funeral, the Dunn family inform the liaison officer they have been made aware of a suggestion that Sacoolas has left the UK. Police confirm this is true.
(September 26, 2019)
Police meet the Dunn family to officially confirm Sacoolas’s departure, and officers go through what they know.
(October 15, 2019)
Dunn’s parents visit the White House following an invitation by US president Donald Trump. He surprises them by telling them that Sacoolas is waiting for them in an adjoining room and wishes to meet them. They decline to meet her.
(November 25, 2019)
Harry Dunn’s father confronts the foreign secretary in his constituency, where he encourages people to vote Raab out. Video footage of the encounter emerges showing Dunn politely approaching Raab as he arrives for the hustings. The politician claimed he was happy to meet but then dismissed Dunn, adding: “Not right in front of the cameras, it’s not on.”
(November 28, 2019)
Dunn’s family launch legal action against the Foreign Office which they said could cost them “upwards of £50,000”.
(December 3, 2019)
Tim Dunn issues a stinging attack on Raab, accusing the foreign secretary of “empty words” and only meeting the family as a publicity stunt. “We think politicians should be honest and decent, and we feel Mr Raab is neither of those,” he writes.
(December 20, 2019)
The Crown Prosecution Service confirms it will start extradition proceedings after Sacoolas confirms she will not return to the UK to face the charge of causing death by dangerous driving
(January 10, 2020)
The US state department describes the extradition request as “highly inappropriate”. A department spokesman said: “The use of an extradition treaty to attempt to return the spouse of a former diplomat by force would establish an extraordinarily troubling precedent.”
(January 23, 2020)
Home Secretary Priti Patel is informed that US authorities will not grant the British government request to extradite Anne Sacoolas. The Home Office describedsthe decision by the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, as a “denial of justice”.
“He reiterated the need for the individual involved to return to the UK,” a Downing Street spokeswoman said.
Andrea Leadsom, who is the constituency MP for the Dunn family, held talks on Friday with the US ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, the commander of RAF Croughton, Col Bridget McNamara, and the chief constable of Northamptonshire police.
She also met Dunn’s family on Friday, the day after she had informed them of the US secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s decision to refuse the extradition request. Leadsom said she had expressed her disappointment on their behalf during the talks with the US ambassador.
She said the prime minister was “very much on the side of the family in their desire to see justice done”. Leadsom said: “All of us in government are working to that end.”
A spokesman for the US state department said the request had been rejected because it would nullify the invocation of diplomatic immunity and set an extraordinarily troubling precedent.
The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has said the move “amounts to a denial of justice”.
The Foreign Office maintains the suspect had diplomatic immunity, which has been disputed by the family, but Raab said he would look to “resolve the issue” surrounding any immunity given to staff at the RAF Croughton base.
Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, has vowed to keep fighting for justice despite Pompeo’s decision. “It doesn’t matter when, whether it’s this administration or the next. The extradition request is always going to be over Anne Sacoolas’s head, and we’re never going to give up,” she said.
