Harry Dunn: Anne Sacoolas avoids jail after causing Northamptonshire teen’s death

The wife of an American diplomat has been handed an eight month suspended prison sentence after killing Northamptonshire teenager Harry Dunn by driving on the wrong side of the road.

Anne Sacoolas appeared via video link from America at London’s Central Criminal Court - The Old Bailey - on Thursday, December 8 after pleading guilty to causing 19-year-old Harry Dunn’s death by careless driving.

Just before the fatal collision on the night of August 27, 2019, Sacoolas was driving her two children home from a barbecue at the RAF Croughton US military base.

Meanwhile, Harry had just spent the afternoon with his best friend and was on his way home on his motorbike. He was described as being his “normal happy self” that day.

The court heard that Sacoolas’ Volvo left the base at 8.21pm and - failing to acknowledge road markings - turned left onto the 40mph carriageway towards Croughton on the wrong side of the road.

Duncan Atkinson, prosecuting, described camera footage showing an “explosion” and fire at the point where the headlights of Sacoolas’ car and Harry’s motorcycle met at just 350 metres away from the exit to the military airbase.

The court heard that the collision threw Harry onto the front of the Volvo and then over the vehicle, shattering the rear window and his motorcycle caught fire.

Another driver stopped at the scene to see Sacoolas standing at the side of the road with her two children looking disoriented, very distressed and shocked.

Sacoolas was heard saying, “It was all my fault. I was on the wrong side of the road.”

At this point, Harry was lying face down on the ground and still conscious, the court heard. He was heard repeatedly saying, “Don’t let me die,” and said he could not feel his legs.

The emergency services were called to the scene and Harry was taken to John Radcliffe Hospital’s major trauma centre in Oxford, where he died at 10.15pm that night.

Mr Atkinson said there was no evidence that either vehicle was speeding or there were any mechanical difficulties. Sacoolas additionally passed a breathalyser test that was conducted by police at the scene of the collision.

Harry’s mother Charlotte Charles, tearfully reading out a statement in court, said: “For 19 years, I had the enormous privilege to enjoy nurturing and raising Harry and his twin. He was the light of my life before he was senselessly and cruelly taken from us.”

She added: “I didn’t make it to the hospital in time before he passed and the thought of that haunts me to my core. My job is to comfort my children and I wasn’t there for Harry to comfort him in what must have been an awful and painful, slow death.

“His passing haunts me every minute of every day and I’m not sure how I’m ever going to get over it.”

Ms Charles said that she also lost her other son - Harry’s twin, Niall - that night as he had gone from being a “proud young man” to a “shell of himself.”

She continued: “I made a promise to Harry in the hospital that we would get him justice and a mother never breaks a promise to her son.”

Ben Cooper KC, in mitigation for Sacoolas, said she is deeply remorseful for her actions and accepts full responsibility for her “tragic mistake,” which she has had to live with ever since.

Mr Cooper, reading a statement on Sacoolas’ behalf, said: “I am deeply sorry for the pain that I have caused and it is for that reason that I have been committed to a resolution of this case. I know there is nothing I can say to change what has happened.

“I cannot imagine the loss and I, too, deeply grieve for Harry and his family.”

The defence barrister said that Sacoolas was fully compliant with police, making full admissions and giving a voluntary interview on October 28.

As the wife of a US diplomat, Sacoolas was granted diplomatic immunity by the US Government and was able to leave the country 19 days after the fatal collision before she could be charged with causing death by dangerous driving by Northamptonshire Police.

Harry’s dad Tim and mum Charlotte Charles fought a three-year battle to have Sacoolas returned to the UK to face justice.

Mr Cooper told the court that Sacoolas did not ask for diplomatic immunity and did not have a say in that decision nor did she try to defend that position.

He added that Sacoolas and her family have since been subjected to extensive death threats and forced to relocate on multiple occasions, which the 45-year-old woman feels responsible for too.

Sacoolas appeared via videolink from Washington DC at London’s Central Criminal Court - The Old Bailey - on Thursday, October 20 where she denied causing death by dangerous driving but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of causing death by careless driving.

Mr Cooper described Sacoolas as a “loving and dedicated mother” to three children, who has suffered greatly from her sense of personal responsibility for causing Harry’s death. She has been undertaking therapy and was diagnosed with a stress-related disorder.

The defence barrister asked Judge Mrs Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb for a deferred sentence so that Sacoolas could carry out unpaid work for a veterans organisation in America. The judge rejected this, stating that is not what the purpose of a deferred sentence is for.

In her sentencing remarks, the Judge said: “Your behaviour on this occasion was not far short of very dangerous driving, that caused a death.”

She said that, at no point during the proceedings, had it been suggested Sacoolas was not free and able to travel to the UK to appear in person.

She told Sacoolas: "I directed you to attend and observed that attendance in person would be strong evidence of remorse.”

Judge Chemma-Grubb said: "There is no doubt that the calm and dignified persistence of these parents and the family of that young man has led, through three years of heartbreak and effort, to your appearance before the court and the opportunity for you to acknowledge your guilt of a crime."

Sacoolas was sentenced to eight months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months.