News / Foreign Policy

Harry Dunn case: Charlotte Charles rejects Sacoolas offer of ‘community service’

Tuesday, 09 March 2021 3:53 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 09 March 2021 5:40 PM ]

Suspect Anne Sacoolas lives freely in the US safe in the knowledge the government will never extradite her

An offer by the suspect involved in Harry Dunn’s death to perform “community service” has been briskly rejected by the latter’s mother.

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The offer to perform community service was announced by Anne Sacoolas’s lawyer, Amy Jefress, who has also made the disputed claim that the type of crash that killed Harry would not ordinarily be criminally prosecuted in the US.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Law in Action program on Tuesday (March 09), Jeffress claimed that Sacoolas’s legal team in the US had been trying to resolve the case in a way that would not involve Sacoolas’s extradition to the UK.

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The US State Department has all but ruled out extraditing the woman charged with the tragic death of young Harry Dunn.

“We understand that community service is a typical sentence for offences like this”, Jeffress said confidently but without specific reference to English law.

"We have offered ever since over a year ago that she would be willing to serve that kind of a sentence and to make a contribution in Harry's memory, to take other steps to try to bring some peace to the family”, Jeffress added.

The most controversial aspect of Jeffress’s interview with Joshua Rozenberg of BBC Radio 4’s Law in Action, was her assertion that had Sacoolas committed a similar crime on US soil she would avoid criminal prosecution.

"In the United States, these cases are only prosecuted where there is evidence of recklessness that rises to the level of close to intent - drunk driving, distracted driving, a hit-and-run situation or excessive speeding”, Jeffress told Rozenburg.

"But there was none of that here [in the Harry Dunn case]", Jeffress boldly concluded.

However, her account has been immediately challenged by the Dun family spokesman, who also happens to be American.

Speaking to the BBC, Radd Seiger, said it was “wrong” for Sacoolas’s lawyer to suggest that community service was a viable option.

"We know she [Sacoolas] did not intend to kill Harry, but in our country [USA], as in their country [UK], if you drive dangerously - 20 seconds down the wrong side of the road and end up killing a child - that is not something we tolerate in this country”, Seiger told the BBC.

"We expect justice to be done", he added.

Seiger’s position was reinforced by Harry’s mom, Charlotte Charles, who told Sky News on Tuesday (March 09) that Sacoolas needs to return to the UK to face the British justice system.

“The only resolution is to face the UK justice system”, Charlotte said forcefully.

Sacoolas, 43, killed Harry on August 27, 2019, by crashing into his motorbike outside RAF Croughton.

She was driving on the wrong side of the road outside the RAF base which houses a large US spy base.

According to court documents Sacoolas is a US intelligence officer, as is her husband, Jonathan Sacoolas, who was a passenger at the time of the deadly crash.