Anne Sacoolas faces jail after she admits killing Harry Dunn outside RAF base

The wife of an American diplomat is facing up to five years in jail after she admitted killing Harry Dunn in a collision near a military base.

Anne Sacoolas, 45, fled the UK after causing the crash which killed the 19-year-old biker outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August 2019.

She drove a Volvo XC90 on the wrong side of the road in the moments prior to the crash.

Appearing at the Old Bailey today (thurs) via video-link from her lawyer’s office in Washington DC, Sacoolas admitted the lesser charge of causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving.

The offence carries the maximum sentence of five years in prison.

She sat next to her solicitor in a white blouse with her dark hair pulled back in a bun.

The clerk told the court: ‘This hearing is being conducted over CVP link but that does not change the serious nature or the importance of this hearing.’

Asked if she was Anne Sacoolas she replied: ‘Yes I’m Anne Sacoolas.’

She pleaded not guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, leaning forward in her chair to do so.

To death by careless or inconsiderate driving, she stumbled over her words before saying: ‘Guilty.’

Gasps rang out from the public gallery where ten of Mr Dunn’s family and friends watched on, some of them bursting into tears.

Mr Dunn’s father Tim Dunn and mother Charlotte Charles, sat in the well of the court, watching proceedings stoically, wearing Kawasaki-green in Harry’s memory.

Sacoolas’ lawyers had indicated at magistrates’ court that she would plead to this lesser charge and the prosecution today decided to accept the plea.

Duncan Atkinson, KC, prosecuting, said: ‘This case relates to the fatal injuring of 19-year-old Harry Dunn on the evening of 27 August 2019 following a collision between his motorbike and the car being driven by this defendant who was at that time on the wrong side of the road having turned from an airbase in Croughton on her way home having travelled a distance of 350m over a period of between 23 and 26 seconds.

‘Whilst the Crown recognise that objectively driving on the wrong side of the road putting at risk a vulnerable road user such as a motorcyclist is capable of amounting to dangerous driving…those decisions also underline that regard must also be had on the subjective culpability of the offender.

‘The culpability of an overseas national without experience of driving on the roads of this country can properly be approached as less than that of a UK national with more familiarity of our road traffic laws.’

Mr Atkinson said the plea had been considered carefully and in consultation with the family and has been accepted.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said that no evidence was offered to the charge of causing death by dangerous driving, which carries the maximum of 14 years, and directed that a not guilty verdict should be entered.

She told Sacoolas: ‘Sentence will be adjourned until a convenient date in the week commencing 28 November 2022.’

The judge said that there was no order she could make that could compel Sacoolas to travel to the UK to be sentenced.

‘One of the most powerful mitigating features…is the degree of remorse felt by the defendant.

‘Attention has rightly been drawn to the remorse demonstrated by Mrs Sacoolas by cooperating in these proceedings at all.

‘I direct that Mrs Sacoolas attends court in person to be sentenced.

‘I remind everyone that this case concerns the sudden and unexpected death two years ago of a young man who was lawfully riding his motorbike with proper care and attention.

‘Personal attendance and voluntary surrender to the court of Mrs Sacoolas for sentence will provide weighty evidence indeed of genuine remorse.’

Sacoolas said she understood.

The judge granted her bail ahead of her sentencing on a date in the week commencing 28 November.

Sacoolas was able to leave the UK 19 days after the crash after she had diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf by the US government.

But in December 2019, the Crown Prosecution Service authorised Northamptonshire Police to charge her with causing Mr Dunn’s death by dangerous driving.

An extradition request for Sacoolas was submitted by the Home Office, but that was rejected by the US State Department in January 2020.

The Dunn family were then advised that, although there could be no criminal proceedings in the US, they could bring a civil claim for damages against Sacoolas as her immunity was no longer valid when she returned to her home country.

Harry’s parents then flew out to the US to give evidence under oath as part of the ‘discovery’ process.

Last December the Crown Prosecution Service said it remained ‘committed to securing justice in this matter’.

She had been expected to face court for the first time in January, but the hearing was aborted at the last minute.

Sacoolas made her first appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 29 September via video-link from her American lawyer’s office in Washington D.C.

Her barrister, Ben Cooper, KC, told the court then that there would ‘in due course be a guilty plea to the charge of death by careless driving.’