Harry Dunn: Home Office labels US decision to refuse Anne Sacoolas' extradition a 'denial of justice'

Family demand meeting with Boris Johnson over snub
Jason Collie24 January 2020
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Mike Pompeo’s refusal to send a diplomat’s wife back to Britain to face trial over the death of Harry Dunn has been labelled a “denial of justice” by the Home Office.

Mr Dunn’s family were told of the US secretary of state’s decision to refuse the UK’s extradition request in a phone call with their constituency MP Andrea Leadsom on Thursday.

They are now calling for a meeting with Boris Johnson after dubbing the US decision as “one of the darkest days” for the two countries' special relationship.

The 19-year-old was killed when his motorbike and a car collided outside a US military base in Northamptonshire on August 27 last year. The driver of the car, Anne Sacoolas, fled back to the US claiming diplomatic immunity, and was subsequently charged with causing death by dangerous driving.

Harry Dunn
PA

In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Home Office said: “We are disappointed in this decision, which appears to be a denial of justice.

“We are urgently considering our options.”

The Home Office submitted an extradition request for the 42-year-old, which the US described as highly inappropriate and Mr Johnson had previously said the chances of the suspect ever returning to the UK were very low.

Ms Leadsom will confront the US ambassador Woody Johnson about the decision on Friday.

Asked if the Prime Minister was doing enough, family spokesman Radd Seiger told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I have to say at the moment not. We did not welcome his public comments last week.

“He is the leader of the gang, he aspired to be Prime Minister. History was made last night when the Americans decided not to return her.

“That’s the first time in history that the United States has turned down an extradition request. It’s one of the darkest days in the history of this special relationship.

“Boris Johnson wanted to be Prime Minister, he is now being tested severely. I expect him today to rise to that challenge and come and meet with me and the family and tell us what he’s going to do about it.”

Harry Dunn's mother Charlotte Charles, stepfather Bruce Charles, family spokesman Radd Seiger and father Tim Dunn outside the Ministry Of Justice in London
PA

But despite the rejection, the Dunn family were remaining resolute that they will get justice one day.

Mr Seigler told the Today programme: “I can assure your listeners this morning that despite the development last night we know for sure that she will be coming back one day, there is no other way forward.

“The reality is that this administration, which we say is behaving lawlessly and taking a wrecking ball to one of the greatest alliances in the world, they won’t be around forever whereas that extradition request will be.

“We will simply plot and plan for a reasonable administration to come in one day and to reverse this decision.”

Earlier, in a short statement Mr Seiger said: “If Trump and Pompeo think this is an end to the matter, they have another thing coming to them. Team Harry will sit down with the Government tomorrow and work out our next steps.

“And next steps there will be. The whole world is on Team Harry’s side. This is not a battle the US government is going to win.”

In a statement released on behalf of the suspect after she was charged in December, Mrs Sacoolas’s lawyers said: “Anne will not return voluntarily to the United Kingdom to face a potential jail sentence for what was a terrible but unintentional accident.”

Lawyers acting on behalf of the Dunn family have said it is the first time in the 100-year history of the extradition treaty that such a request had been turned down by the US.

Additional reporting by PA Media

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