Harry Dunn’s mother says his killer Anne Sacoolas’ no-show in court is ‘incredibly disappointing’

Teenager Harry Dunn begged a bystander ‘don’t let me die’ after he was knocked off his motorbike by an American diplomat driving on the wrong side of the road, a court heard.

US citizen Anne Sacoolas, 45, has today been sentenced at the Old Bailey to eight months in prison suspended for 12 months for causing the death of Mr Dunn.

Following the crash outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27, 2019, Harry was flung from his bike as Sacoolas’ Volvo XC90 burst into flames and he later died in hospital. 

Sacoolas earlier admitted causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving but she was advised by her government employer not to attend her sentencing hearing today. 

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb revealed she has received a ‘barrier’ from the US Government refusing to allow Mrs Sacoolas’ attendance.

19-year-old Harry Dunn died in August 2019, when he was struck by a car driven by US diplomat’s wife Anne Sacoolas outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire

The family of Harry Dunn (left to right) mother Charlotte Charles, stepfather Bruce Charles, stepmother Tracey Dunn, father Tim Dunn and family advisor Radd Seiger, pictured arriving at the Old Bailey this afternoon for the sentencing of Anne Sacoolas

Harry Dunn’s parents Charlotte Charles (left) and Tim Dunn (right) have pleaded for Sacoolas to acknowledge responsibility for their son’s death

Today, Sacoolas appeared to wipe a tear as she listened to a harrowing statement from Dunn’s mother at her sentencing hearing in Court One of the Old Bailey before Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb. 

Opening the facts, Duncan Atkinson KC told how Mr Dunn was fatally injured at about 8.20pm on August 27 2019 when his Kawaski motorbike crashed with Sacoolas’s Volvo.

At the time of the collision, Sacoolas was driving two of her children home from a barbeque at Croughton US Air Base.

Mr Dunn had spent the afternoon with his best friend, Robert Hill, and was on his way home on his motorbike.

Mr Atkinson said: ‘He was described as being his normal self, happy and joking.’

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC said there was an ‘explosion and fire’ following the collision.

Continuing to open the case, he said: ‘It is not suggested the Volvo was exceeding the speed limit.

‘Neither driver seems to have seen or reacted to the other.

‘Harry Dunn was thrown on the front of the Volvo, then over the vehicle … striking the rear window before coming to rest behind it.

‘(The Volvo’s) rear window had been smashed and its airbags had been activated. The motorbike itself had extensive fire damage.’

The collision happened on the B4031, a two-carriageway road, between Croughton village and Croughton US Air Base in Northamptonshire, with a 40mph speed limit.

Mr Atkinson told how another motorist, Jennifer Hewitt, came upon the Volvo, on the wrong side of the road, with an object on fire in front of it which she realised was a motorbike.

He said: ‘She saw the defendant standing at the side of the road with her two children.

‘The defendant was disoriented, very distressed, and shocked, and said ‘I’ve had a head-on collision with a motorbike. It’s all my fault, I was on the wrong side of the road’.

‘She added “I’ve only been here a couple of weeks”.’

Ms Hewitt then saw Mr Dunn lying on the verge at the side of the road, near the Volvo. According to her, he was face down, but conscious. He repeatedly said ‘don’t let me die’.’

Ms Hewitt called the emergency services and tried to reassure Mr Dunn, the court heard.

Police arrived at the scene at 8.28pm and found smoke coming from Mr Dunn’s bike and the teenager face-down on the verge.

He had suffered leg injuries and told officers ‘the car was on the wrong side of the road’.

US citizen Sacoolas (pictured in Virginia) struck the teenage motorcyclist in a road crash outside US military base RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27, 2019 

The prosecutor said Anne Sacoolas told police at the scene she had ‘made a mistake’ and that she was ‘so stupid’. 

‘The police observed that the defendant had her head in her hands and was crying. She told them she had ‘made a mistake’ and said ‘I was so stupid’.

‘The police confirmed that she complied fully with their requests at the scene. She acknowledged she was driving on the wrong side of the road.’

Harry Dunn’s mother broke down in court as she spoke of how her son was ‘so senselessly and cruelly taken from us’.

She told the Old Bailey: ‘I am Harry’s mother. My world turned upside down on 27 August 2019.

‘My beautiful son Harry, twin brother of Niall, is gone and is never coming back.

‘For 19 years, I had the enormous privilege and joy of nurturing and raising Harry, who was the light of my life before he was so senselessly and cruelly taken from us.’

Anne Sacoolas appeared to wipe away a tear as Mrs Charles read her victim impact statement.

At a hearing in October, US citizen Anne Sacoolas pleaded guilty, via video-link from the United States, to causing Harry Dunn´s death by careless driving

(Left to right) Harry Dunn’s father Tim Dunn, stepmother Tracey, mother Charlotte Charles and stepfather Bruce stand outside the Old Bailey at a previous case management hearing

Sacoolas, who appeared via video-link at a previous hearing in the case on September 29, joined the proceedings remotely

Charlotte Charles speaking to the media after Sacoolas´s plea hearing (James Manning/PA)

A court sketch of Sacoolas (on the screen, right) during her appearance at the Old Bailey. Tim Dunn (right) held his head in his hands as Sacoolas pleaded guilty 

Mrs Charles said: ‘I didn’t make it to the hospital in time before he passed and the thought of that haunts me to my core.

‘My job is to comfort my children and I wasn’t there for Harry to comfort him in what must have been an awful and painful, slow death, particularly as he lay on the side of the road waiting for an ambulance bleeding to death.

‘I beat myself up over and over again and wish I had left work earlier so that I could have gotten to him in time.

‘If I had left work on time that night, I would have been able to delay him leaving the house, so that he wouldn’t have been travelling along the same road as Anne Sacoolas.’

The court heard Sacoolas had called her husband to the scene and was seen to be crying with her head in her hands.

She told officers she had ‘made a mistake’ and said ‘I was so stupid’, Mr Atkinson said.

A breath test was negative for alcohol and Sacoolas acknowledged she was driving on the wrong side of the road, he said.

Mr Dunn was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where he died from his injuries at 10.50pm.

In mitigation, Anne Sacoolas’s defence barrister Ben Cooper KC said the US citizen had received death threats via email and telephone, and her family had been forced to relocate following Harry Dunn’s death.

Reading a statement on behalf of the defendant, Mr Cooper said her actions caused her ‘regret every single day’, adding: ‘There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about Harry.’

Mr Cooper said Sacoolas ‘did not ask’ for the diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf by the US government, nor did she have an opportunity to have a say in the refusal of an extradition request submitted by the Home Office.

He said the defendant left the country on a commercial flight as her family were redeployed on the decision of her government.

Sentencing Anne Sacoolas, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told the defendant: ‘The impact with the front of your car threw him onto the front of your car, and over it and onto the road.

‘You got out, realised what had happened and you were very distressed.

‘You confirmed to the police that what happened was your fault and you had been on the wrong side of the road.

‘You were not arrested at the time, you did not remain in the United Kingdom … and you submitted to a voluntary interview with police in Washington DC.

‘A request for your extradition was submitted in 2020, it was denied.

‘There is no doubt that the calm and dignified persistence of these parents and family of that young man has led through three years of heartbreak and effort to your appearance before this court and acknowledge your guilt.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Anne Sacoolas: ‘At no point during these proceedings was it suggested that you were not free to travel.

‘There could be little reason where a young man had met his death for you not to be required to attend for sentence.’

Speaking about the renewed application for the defendant to appear via video-link, the judge said: ‘A week before that date, the court received a renewal of an application for you to appear via live link which made reference to harassment you and your family had received.

‘A request was made on your behalf for a delay of a week to obtain further evidence – this was allowed.’

The judge said she then received ‘for the first time in these criminal proceedings’ what she described as a ‘barrier’ to her attendance in court from the US government.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said she received a statement from the US administration, saying: ‘The US government does not in any way support Mrs Sacoolas’ appearance at this hearing.

‘Her return could place significant US interests at risk.’