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Harry Dunn PA Images
harry dunn

UK lodges extradition request for wife of US diplomat charged over death of teenage motorcyclist

Anne Sacoolas claimed diplomatic immunity after the death of Harry Dunn.

THE UK HOME Office has said it has submitted an extradition request for the suspect charged in connection with the death of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn.

Anne Sacoolas was charged with causing the 19-year-old’s death by dangerous driving last month.

Harry died after his motorbike crashed into a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August last year.

The 42-year-old suspect, the wife of a US intelligence official, claimed diplomatic immunity after the collision and was able to return to her home country, sparking an international controversy.

Now, the Home Office has said the matter is now “a decision for the US authorities” after formally submitting the extradition request on Friday.

Confirming the extradition request, a spokesman for the Home Office said: “Following the Crown Prosecution Service’s charging decision, the Home Office has sent an extradition request to the United States for Anne Sacoolas on charges of causing death by dangerous driving.

“This is now a decision for the US authorities.”

Harry’s family have said they are “pleased” with the development, adding that they feel it is a “huge step towards achieving justice for Harry”.

The family have initiated various legal proceedings against the Foreign Office, the US government and Sacoolas herself after their lawyers disputed the granting of diplomatic immunity.

Reacting to the extradition request on behalf of Harry Dunn’s family, spokesman Radd Seiger told the PA news agency: “I have learned that the extradition request for Anne Sacoolas has been delivered today to the United States Department of Justice in accordance with the requirements laid out in the treaty between the two countries and I have notified the parents.

“This will not of course bring Harry back, but in the circumstances of all that this family have been through, they are pleased with the development and feel that it is a huge step towards achieving justice for Harry and making good on the promise that they made to him on the night he died that they would secure justice for him.

“Despite the unwelcome public comments currently emanating from the US administration that Anne Sacoolas will never be returned, Harry’s parents, as victims, will simply look forward to the legal process unfolding, as it must now do, confident in the knowledge that the rule of law will be upheld.

“They will simply take things one step at a time and not get ahead of themselves. However, no one, whether diplomat or otherwise, is above the law.”

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