US diplomat’s wife ‘spoke to Harry Dunn after crash before comforting her children’

The US diplomat’s wife who was involved in a crash that killed Harry Dunn told him she would get help after the collision – before waving down another car to assist so she could comfort her children, Sky News has learnt.

A source close to Anne Sacoolas told Sky News she takes responsibility for the crash and wants to meet 19-year-old Harry’s parents to apologise.

She accepts she was driving on the wrong side of the road and is “terribly, terribly sorry for that tragic mistake”, the source said.

It came as Harry’s family called for the Foreign Office to release all documents relating to its advice to Northamptonshire Police about the diplomatic immunity granted to Mrs Sacoolas, who was allowed to return to the US after the crash.

Mrs Sacoolas is said to have stayed at the scene after the collision outside an RAF base in Northamptonshire in August, and spoke to Mr Dunn – who had been riding a motorcycle – to tell him that she would call for help.

She waved down another car which pulled over, allowing Mrs Sacoolas to return to comfort her young children who were in her vehicle, the source said.

According to the source, Mrs Sacoolas stayed at the scene until the ambulance had arrived and police allowed her to leave.

She is said to have provided a statement at the scene and met with Northamptonshire Police at her home the following day.

Mrs Sacoolas returned to America three weeks after the crash after being granted diplomatic immunity.

Northamptonshire Police told Sky News they were not given advance warning that she was leaving the country.

They confirmed they spoke Mrs Sacoolas the day after the accident and applied for a waiver of immunity.

But on 16 September they were informed the waiver had been declined and that she had already left the country.

The Foreign Office says she no longer has diplomatic immunity because she has returned home and former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt told Sky News that means she should be able to come back to the UK.

Speaking on Kay Burley@Breakfast, Mr Hunt said: “That diplomatic immunity has been lifted is an encouraging sign that President Trump recognises this issue cannot be left to rest.

“There is now the possibility of a normal legal process and I expect that’s what will happen.”

He added: “I think it was a mistake to spirit her out of the country – it was immensely disrespectful to Harry Dunn’s family and the relationship with the UK to do that.

“I don’t think America should have done that and they need to find a way to bring her back. We are not some tinpot dictatorship here, we have the rule of law and it is absolutely right that Anne Sacoolas faces the legal consequences of what she did, however accidental it might be, now matter how sorry she is, she needs to recognise that.”

Radd Seiger, a spokesman for Harry’s family, said he would be writing to the Foreign Office to request all emails, messages and notes are released relating to its advice to police about Mrs Sacoolas’ diplomatic immunity.

“What we don’t know is whether somebody cocked up or whether they were put under pressure by the Americans to concede,” he said.

“But we want to conduct an investigation into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s decision to advise Northamptonshire Police that this lady had the benefit of diplomatic immunity.

“If we’re not satisfied, then we’ll go to a judicial review and ask a High Court judge to review it all.”

Harry’s parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, have travelled to the US in the hope of meeting Mrs Sacoolas, but say she must first agree to return to the UK.

Ms Charles told a news conference in New York on Monday: “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.”

Ms Charles said the family are willing to work with police and ask for Mrs Sacoolas to be given a suspended sentence for death by careless driving, rather than death by dangerous 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”,” she added.

Mr Dunn also called on US President Donald Trump to help secure justice for Harry.

“Our boy died and he deserves to have some justice. That’s all we want,” he said.

“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.

(c) Sky News 2019: US diplomat’s wife ‘spoke to Harry Dunn after crash before comforting her children’