Harry Dunn: Foreign Office sought delay in informing family that suspect had left UK

Foreign Office officials asked Northamptonshire police to delay telling Harry Dunn’s family the woman responsible for his death had left the UK, Dominic Raab has admitted.

Mr Dunn was riding his motorbike when he was killed in a collision involving Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomat, outside an RAF base in Northamptonshire on 27 August.

She returned to the US after being granted diplomatic immunity.

Officers were told she had left the country on September 16, but the 19-year-old’s family say they were not informed by police until 10 days later.

The foreign secretary has now admitted officials had asked for a delay of “a day or two, no more than that” to make sure they were clear on their plans going forward.

Mr Rabb said: The police are in charge of liaising with the family in this tragic case.

“They asked the FCO advise, and one of our officers said it would be helpful to have a day or two, no more than that, just to make sure we’re clear on what we were doing going forward and also so ministers could be consulted.

“Obviously we want to get the information to the family as quickly as possible but we also want to make sure we’ve got answers for them.

“After that, the delay that occurred was the responsibility of the police and I know throughout this they’ve wanted to deal with this as sensitively as they possible can.”

Asked to confirm who was responsible for the delay, Mr Raab added: “The police are responsible for liaising with the family and they take the judgement call, I believe it was 10 days, and they’ll have had their reasons for that.

“The question put to us was whether we were responsible for that delay. One of my officers said they wanted a day or two to make sure they were clear on the action we would be taking next and also so they could make sure they could inform and consult ministers.”

Northamptonshire police have declined to comment.

Emily Thornberry, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, said: “It now looks increasingly clear that the foreign secretary and his officials have something to hide in terms of how they responded to this dreadful tragedy, why they allowed Anne Sacoolas to leave the country, and why they delayed informing Harry Dunn’s family of her departure.”

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has described a meeting on Tuesday with Harry’s family as “beautiful but sad“.

During the meeting, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn were told Sacoolas was in the next room, but refused to see her.

(c) Sky News 2019: Harry Dunn: Foreign Office sought delay in informing family that suspect had left UK