Harry Dunn death: 'Job done', his mother says outside court after Anne Sacoolas gets suspended sentence

A former Foreign Office minister who signed off an agreement which allowed the US government to assert diplomatic immunity on behalf of Anne Sacoolas has said it was "never intended" to be used in that way.

Sir Tony Baldry, who was a junior minister when the documents were drawn up in the 1990s, said he was "horrified" when the US administration suggested there was a "loophole" in the original agreement following Harry Dunn's death.

"I don't think it was ever intended, I'm quite sure, when the Foreign Office legal team thought out the agreements, or agreed to the agreements, that you are covered by diplomatic immunity when you weren't actually acting as a diplomat," he said.

Due to an "Exchange of Notes" crafted between the UK and the US in 1995, administrative and technical staff at a US military base are entitled to diplomatic immunity for actions performed in the course of their professional duties under the Vienna Convention.

The immunity was granted to those staff members on a condition of a pre-waiver for actions outside the course of their duties - but as spouses were not specifically mentioned in that part of the agreement, Sacoolas was deemed to be entitled to immunity, while her husband was not.

In July 2020, then-foreign secretary Dominic Raab said the UK and US agreed to close the loophole.

Giving his view on whether spouses of staff at RAF Croughton should have been allowed greater immunity than the staff themselves, Sir Tony said: "I don't think that was ever envisaged or intended.

"But, even if the US Embassy did conclude that she had diplomatic status, they could have waived that status."

Northamptonshire Police has praised Harry Dunn's family for "shining a light" on the case in their quest for justice.

Following the sentencing of Anne Sacoolas for causing the 19-year-old's death, the force released a statement.

It said: "Throughout this long process, we have been determined to deliver a judicial outcome for Harry's family.

"They have spent more than three years shining a light on this case in their quest for justice for him. 

"While their tragic loss will always be felt, we hope they now feel justice has been delivered and they can begin to move forward with their lives.

"This was an extremely complex and challenging case, but Northamptonshire Police carried out a full and thorough investigation following the tragic events of August 27, 2019.

"Through the determined efforts of colleagues in our serious collision investigation unit, we were eventually able to bring a case file to our partners in the Crown Prosecution Service and, thanks to their diligence over a prolonged period of time, this ultimately led to the charging and later admission of guilt by Anne Sacoolas."

David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, has urged the Conservative Party to be "honest and transparent" about mistakes in the wake of the sentencing of Anne Sacoolas.

The former US spy was handed an eight month sentence, suspended for 12 months, for killing 19-year-old Harry Dunn in August 2019.

Mr Lammy said: "Today's judgment marks at least some justice after the Dunn family's courageous and unwavering fight for Harry following his tragic death. Today we pay tribute to them."

He added: "The UK government must be honest and transparent about its mistakes under Dominic Raab's leadership and learn meaningful lessons from them. 

"Sacoolas should not have been allowed to leave the country and the US should have waived her immunity.

"The ordeal the family have had to endure - made worse by a series of failures in Foreign Office - must never be repeated. 

"No other family can ever be allowed to go through the same."

The 19-year-old motorcyclist has been described by friends and family as "a giant of a man with an even bigger and warmer personality who cared so much about others".

His family marked the third anniversary of his death in August this year in private. 

Previously, family spokesman Radd Seiger said: "It is a terribly sad day but no sadder than any other day that his family have to endure.

"We all miss him terribly. He was a giant of a man with an even bigger and warmer personality who cared so much about others".

Motorcyclists gathered and revved their engines outside the US embassy in London to mark the occasion. 

Mr Dunn's friend Chelsea Wilson, 24, said she was glad to be among those marking the teenager's anniversary to help ensure her friend, who "liked anything noisy, but he loved his bikes", is "not forgotten".

The footage below captures the moment Anne Sacoolas was handed a suspended sentence for killing 19-year-old Harry Dunn in August 2019.

She was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for 12 months.

Watch the moment in full in the clip below...

Anne Sacoolas has refused to answer any questions after being sentenced for causing the death of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn.

In exclusive footage from Sky News, the former US spy was seen with her lawyers in Washington, DC, where she appeared by video link for her sentencing, but declined to answer questions.

She has been sentenced to eight months imprisonment suspended for 12 months for causing the death of Harry by careless driving.

Sky's James Matthews approached Sacoolas after her sentencing and asked her: "What words do you have for Harry Dunn's family?" to which she replied: "Have a nice day."

Sacoolas and her team then try to prevent the correspondent from joining them in their lift, while ignoring his questions.

Charlotte Charles, Harry Dunn's mother, has said the UK "let us down" badly in the weeks after he son was killed in a crash.

She said the US are "not my favourite and they are never going to be" - but "the UK really let us down badly in the beginning".

Ms Charles added: "They are starting to come good, I think. But I think I need to reserve judgement for now."

The Dunn family spokesman, Radd Seiger, went on to describe Harry's parents as "heroes", adding that they want to "leave a legacy" for their son.

He said: "Today is the end of the criminal phase and again the suggestion at the time was that this family was never going to get justice and that was never going to happen.

"So, today is victory day. We can close this off now, and she has a very serious sentence. 

"Today is about thinking about Harry, and today is about thinking about the parents. They are heroes in my view. But we now move forward to the next phase of our campaign.

 "The parents want to leave a legacy for Harry, which is that this will never happen again."

Charlotte Charles, the mother of Harry Dunn, told Sky News that the family's meeting with then-US President Donald Trump was "very scary" and "daunting".

She described the context of the White House meeting, which took place not long after her son was killed in a crash.

Ms Charles said: "You're on automatic pilot mode, you just seem to float through the days not really knowing where your feet are touching the ground and nothing feels real.

"When the opportunity was presented to us via [family spokesman] Radd Seiger to go and meet with [Donald Trump] we were like well, we're here, we've got to give it a go. 

"Why not? What have we got to lose? We had absolutely nothing left to lose – we had lost anything that we could have lost."

Ms Charles said Mr Seiger wasn't keen on taking up the invitation, and alleged the White House repeatedly attempted to separate the parents from him.

"It was just ridiculous, they tried separating us from Radd.

"Even though we were in the Oval Office, I'm not into politics, I didn't have a clue what it looked like, I didn't know where we were.

"It was very scary, very daunting looking back at it.

"And then to be told that she was in the next room, it was bang out of order. None of us had any therapists with us, nobody, no UK adviser. It was totally and utterly the wrong thing to do."  

The Dunn family spokesman, Radd Seiger says Anne Sacoolas is not the "real enemy" in the case, but the US government.

Speaking outside the court, he says: "The real enemy here is not Mrs Sacoolas we know she made a mistake that night.. our real enemy is the US government. 

"Who after Harry's death decided instead of doing the right thing for the family, decided to kick them in the stomach".

He describes the case as "one of the most extraordinary legal cases in English history" and says he is "in awe" of the teenager's parents Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn and the campaigning that the family has done. 

Charlotte Charles, Harry Dunn's mother, says "job done" and "promise complete" outside the court.

"Anne Sacoolas has a criminal record for the rest of her life that was something that she never thought she'd see, or the US government. We worked tirelessly and relentlessly to make sure she had to do what you and I would have done".

Asked by Sky's Lisa Dowd if she was happy about the sentence, Mrs Charles said she never cared about the outcome, just that justice was served.

"For us it was all about doing the right thing. Getting through the justice system".

When asked whether she would meet Sacoolas, Mrs Charles says "too much too late now." 

Speaking about Sacoolas' decision to not attend the sentencing in person, Mrs Charles adds: "I think it's despicable that she didn't come over on the judge's orders. Huge coward."