Harry Dunn's parents urge US suspect Anne Sacoolas to 'do the right thing'
The parents of a motorcyclist killed in a road accident urge suspect Anne Sacoolas to return to Britain.
Monday 14 October 2019 23:29, UK
The parents of Harry Dunn have said all they want is the woman who is suspected of causing their son's death to return to the UK to face justice.
The pair arrived in New York on Sunday hoping to meet suspect Anne Sacoolas - but only if she agrees to return to the UK.
Speaking at a news conference in New York on Monday, Harry's mother Charlotte Charles said: "It's the only right thing to do."
"It's the only humane thing to do. And we would hope then that we can try to start to move forward and the UK justice system do whatever they feel is right."
Harry, 19, died when his motorbike collided with a car outside an RAF base in Northamptonshire in August. Ms Sacoolas, the woman who is alleged to have collided with the teenager, returned to America after being granted diplomatic immunity.
The Foreign Office says she no longer has diplomatic immunity because she has returned home, meaning the case could now be taken forward by Northamptonshire Police.
Mrs Sacoolas, 42, the wife of an American diplomat, said in a statement from her lawyers that she is "devastated", though her whereabouts are uncertain.
Ms Charles said that receiving an apology "just in writing" from Mrs Sacoolas was "just wrong" and "a bit too little, too late".
She said: "I don't know how sincere it was. Of course she is suffering, we knew all along she would be suffering. Her children must be suffering - two of them were in the car and that's horrific.
"Our lad wasn't a little lad, the car was extremely damaged as well as Harry, so we are not inhumane, we still don't wish her any ill harm.
"But we need to hear it from her, in her own words, in a room and on our terms, in the UK."
Ms Charles said the family had been told there is CCTV evidence showing Mrs Sacoolas leaving the RAF base "on the wrong side of the road".
"CCTV follows her all the way down the road on the wrong side of the road and you see Harry's headlight of his motorbike and then there is a big fireball when his bike went up," she said.
"So it should have been a clear-cut case".
She said that the family had been willing to work with police and ask for Mrs Sacoolas' sentence to be reduced from death by dangerous driving to death by careless driving.
"We were going to ask for a suspended sentence so that we didn't take away from her children, although she's robbed us of one of ours".
Harry's father Tim Dunn also called on US President Donald Trump to help secure justice for Harry.
He said: "On that night there was an accident, a lady made a mistake, she killed our son, she didn't mean to kill him, she didn't mean to have an accident, but you cannot walk away from that and just leave and expect nothing to happen.
"Our boy died and he deserves to have some justice. That's all we want.
"I would say to him (President Trump) as a man, as a father, how could you let this happen, if you are a father and your child died surely you'd want that person to own up and take responsibility for their action?"
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Harry's parents had previously expressed anger and disappointment at how the UK government had handled the case following a meeting with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
But on Saturday they received a letter from Mr Raab which said that that Mrs Sacoolas no longer has diplomatic immunity.
Detective Superintendent Sarah Johnson told Sky News that the force is working with the Crown Prosecution Service and other agencies to progress its investigation - even though the suspect is not in the UK.