Harry Dunn crash death: US diplomat’s wife Anne Sacoolas ‘admits driving on wrong side of road’

The US diplomat’s wife accused of killing teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn in a head-on crash has broken her silence and admitted driving on the wrong side of the road.

In a statement issued through her lawyers, Anne Sacoolas, 42, has given her first account of what happened before she fled back to the US.

It comes after the parents of the dead 19-year-old said her apology is “not enough”.

A spokesman from her law firm Arnold & Porter said: “Anne was driving on the wrong side of the road and had no time to react when she saw the motorbike – the crash happened too fast.

“Anne stayed on the scene of the accident to assist. She spoke to Harry Dunn to tell him that she would call for help. She waved down another car.

“That driver pulled over and offered to assist Harry so that Anne could comfort her young children, who had been in her car and were on the scene.”

The spokesman added that Ministry of Defence police were on the scene shortly after the crash on August 27 near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire, but that it took a “long time” for an ambulance to get there.

Mrs Sacoolas, a mother-of-three, has said she wants to meet Mr Dunn’s family to “apologise and take responsibility”, her law firm said.

However, they said they do not want to meet Mrs Sacoolas until she returns to the UK to face the courts. Last week, notes held by US president Donald Trump at a press conference revealed he had no intention of sending her back to Britain.

Meanwhile, the 19-year-old’s family are set to launch a judicial review into advice given by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to Northamptonshire Police over the decision to grant diplomatic immunity to Mrs Sacoolas.

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She left the UK just days after the crash which killed the teenager.

His mother, Charlotte Charles, and father, Tim Dunn, told a press conference in New York that they felt let down by the decision to allow her to go to the US.

They are campaigning for Mrs Sacoolas to return to the UK to appear in court.

The family's spokesman, Radd Seiger, said their lawyers, Mark Stephens and Geoffrey Robertson QC are now prepared to launch a full investigation into the FCO over their involvement in the decision to grant immunity to Mrs Sacoolas.

Mr Seiger said: "What Mark and I are going to do, is we are going to write to the FCO very shortly, explaining that we don't want to do a judicial review, but to avoid that please let us have the following documents - all emails, messages, notes in relation to your advice to Northamptonshire Police that this lady had it (diplomatic immunity).

"What we don't know is whether somebody cocked up or whether they were put under pressure by the Americans to concede.

"We want to conduct an investigation into the FCO's decision to advise Northamptonshire Police that this lady had the benefit of diplomatic immunity.

"If we're not satisfied, then we'll go to a judicial review and ask a High Court judge to review it all."

Speaking at a press conference in New York on Monday, Tim Dunn said: "Somewhere, somebody has made a decision to give this lady immunity.

"She's not entitled to immunity as it's been said and we've known that from the start. They made a mistake, someone has made a mistake."

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab wrote to the family prior to their departure to the US, telling them Mrs Sacoolas no longer had immunity.

"The letter is worded very carefully, they're not saying it's just a change of heart - they are saying that it's an evolution," Mr Seiger said.