The mother of Harry Dunn, the teenage motorcyclist killed in a crash outside of the US airbase RAF Croughton, spoke out about her grief and disappointment during the inquest into his death. The driver of the car that hit Mr Dunn, Anne Sacoolas, was not in attendance at the hearings, and Ms. Dunn told the court that her absence was “bitterly disappointing” and “utterly incomprehensible” to her. The evidence of Sacoolas will now be read to the court instead. Counsel for the inquest told the court that the coroner did not have the power to force Sacoolas to attend.
Harry Dunn was killed in August 2019 when his motorcycle was struck by a car driven by Sacoolas moments after she left the airbase. She was granted diplomatic immunity by the US government and left the UK soon after the crash. The Dunn family campaigned for Sacoolas’s return but their calls were rejected. In December 2019, the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service authorised Northamptonshire Police to charge Sacoolas with causing Mr Dunn’s death, but a request to extradite her to the UK was denied.
During the first day of the hearings, Mr Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, delivered a moving tribute to her son. She said that he was “larger than life” with a “great” sense of humour. Four days have been set aside for the inquest. According to the proposed witness list, Sacoolas’s evidence is due to include a “significant statement” from her, sections of her police interview from 2019 and her witness statement written in December last year. The coroner will determine whether Sacoolas was driving on the wrong side of the road when the accident happened.
The story of Harry Dunn has been fraught with tension and controversy since the tragic accident in 2019. The Dunn family’s calls for justice have been widely covered in the press and their campaign has had global reach. The tragedy of his death and the repercussions that followed have caused great pain for his family and highlighted issues surrounding diplomatic immunity. The inquest is expected to last until the end of the week
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