U.S. diplomat Anne Sacoolas has been sentenced to eight months in prison for killing 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn in Britain in 2019. The accident caused great commotion and strained relations between Washington and London. Sacoolas invoked diplomatic immunity after the accident and left for her home country.
The sentence brings to an end an emotional and sensational case that lasted almost 3.5 years.
Harry Dunn was riding his bike in August 2019 when he got shoveled by Sacoolas (then 42). At that time, the American was driving her car on the wrong side of the road. She had just left the military base in Northamptonshire, England, where her husband was employed. The teenager died of his injuries. Shortly after that fatal accident, Sacoolas left the United Kingdom under the protection of her diplomatic immunity.
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The tragic accident caused outrage in England and led to diplomatic tensions between the two countries. The US ignored an extradition request from British prosecutors and tempers escalated even further when the teenager’s parents visited the US to talk to media to increase the pressure. The British authorities asked for her extradition, but the US refused to cooperate.
Process via video connection
Eventually it came to a trial. Last year, Sacoolas already reached a settlement with the victim’s relatives. She was subsequently prosecuted. In October, she admitted to causing Dunn’s death because she was driving on the wrong half of the road.
Throughout the process, the diplomat’s wife refused to be physically present. She also followed the verdict today by video connection from the US. Her lawyer pointed to the pressure being put on her from the US. It would have been because of this that she returned to her home country after the accident and why she did not want to be present during the trial.
“My tragic mistake led to the loss of Harry. I live with that thought every day,” Sacoolas said in a statement. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think of Harry.”
Harry’s mother Charlotte Charles reacted to the media after the hearing. “Job done, promise kept.” She added that she found it despicable that Sacoolas was not present in person in court and called the American a “big coward.”
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