Harry Dunn: Anne Sacoolas charged but there's no guarantee she will return to UK
The case will be an important test of a UK-US extradition deal once described by the now foreign secretary as "lopsided".
Friday 20 December 2019 14:24, UK
Now that Anne Sacoolas has been charged, is there any chance of her coming back to the UK to face jail?
If she does not do so voluntarily, British authorities have the option to extradite her.
Extradition requests follow clearly defined rules.
The UK would now be expected to take the next step, sending an extradition request to the US State Department via the British embassy in Washington.
The State Department then must determine whether that request conforms with the 2003 Extradition Treaty that the UK and US negotiated to formalise the process.
The State Department lawyer will be looking for two things in particular:
- Does the request include "such information as would provide a reasonable basis to believe that the person sought committed the offence for which extradition is requested".
- And is there a probable cause to justify the request.
Only then does a politician get involved.
The US secretary of state will take the final decision to approve Mrs Sacoolas's extradition or not. He will ask whether she can be guaranteed a fair trial or not and will she be subject to inhumane treatment.
It goes without saying that Mrs Sacoolas and her lawyers have the right to appeal at stages in the process.
The 2003 Extradition Treaty is controversial.
In 2012, a certain Dominic Raab, then a backbencher, condemned it as "lopsided".
"We have extradited seven UK nationals for every American extradited to Britain," complained the man who is now the foreign secretary.
Critics say it makes it easier for America to extradite people from the UK than vice versa.
They say the Blair government was hoodwinked into rushing through changes in the law in the wake of the 9/11 attacks that put the UK at a disadvantage.
Will those allegedly unfair arrangements help America block Mrs Sacoolas's extradition? We need not look too far back to see what happens when America wants a Brit to be extradited for crimes committed there.
In August this year, Donna Francis was extradited from the UK to America to stand trial for crimes allegedly committed in the US, where she is accused of killing a patient by giving her botched buttock-enhancement injections.
Will the same happen in reverse to Mrs Sacoolas?
Despite the claims of Mr Raab as a backbencher, the UK government points to a review of the extradition treaty concluding it puts Britain and America on a level footing.
What happens to Mrs Sacoolas may now become a key test of that claim.
And does Mr Raab still believe arrangements are "lopsided"? If so, will he use his power in government to try and remedy the imbalance?