The US citizen who hit and killed teenager Harry Dunn while driving on the wrong side of the road has been handed an eight-month suspended prison sentence.
Anne Sacoolas, 45, mistakenly put her Volvo on collision course with 19-year-old Harry’s motorbike as she left a US military base in Northamptonshire on August 27, 2019.
Mr Dunn was flung from his bike when the two vehicles collided in a ball of flames, and he later died from his injuries in hospital.
Sacoolas had been urged to come face-to-face with Mr Dunn’s family at an Old Bailey sentencing hearing on Thursday, but opted instead to appear via videolink from Washington DC.
The mother-of-three, wearing a cream jacket and grey top, apologised for the crash and her “tragic mistake” through her lawyer and offered to meet Mr Dunn’s family, saying: “I am sorry for the pain I have caused.”
She watched on over the videolink as Mr Dunn’s mother tearfully described how her son’s death “haunts me every minute of every day”.
Mrs Justice Cheema Grubb handed Sacoolas an eight-month prison sentence suspended for a year and disqualified her from driving for 12 months.
“I accept you feel and felt genuine remorse”, said the judge, noting Sacoolas stopped at the roadside and offered help to Mr Dunn.
She said Sacoolas had claimed harassment and threats in the US prevented her from attending in person, but police in the UK had drawn up plans to keep her safe if she did travel.
However the US government ultimately blocked Sacoolas from travelling.
The Old Bailey heard Mr Dunn pleaded “don’t let me die” after the crash, as he lay injured at the roadside, while a shell-shocked Sacoolas admitted “it’s all my fault”.
Outlining details of the crash, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC said Sacoolas had driven on the wrong side of the road for up to 26 seconds and over a distance of around 350m, not realising her mistake.
“At the time of the collision, she was driving her two children home from a barbecue at the Croughton airbase”, he said.
“Anne Sacoolas was driving on the wrong side of the road - Ms Sacoolas and Harry Dunn were travelling towards each other on the same carriageway. At 20.21:49 there was an explosion and a fire when the headlights met – 23-26 seconds after the Volvo drove off the air base, and 350m from the exit.”
The prosecutor said one of the first people at the scene, Jennifer Hewitt, saw a “disoriented, very distressed, and shocked” Sacoolas at the side of the road with her two children.
“She 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’”, the court heard. “She added ‘I’ve only been here a couple of weeks’.”
“Ms Hewitt then saw the body of Harry Dunn lying on the verge at the side of the road, near the Volvo. He was face down, but conscious. He repeatedly said, ‘don’t let me die’.
“Ms Hewitt called the emergency services at 20.29, and tried to reassure Harry that he would be OK.”
Mr Dunn’s father rushed to the scene, while Sacoolas’ husband Jonathan joined her at the roadside.
Mr Atkinson said Sacoolas passed a breathalyser test and had not been speeding, and confessed at the roadside she had “made a mistake” and added: “I was so stupid”.
Questioned later by police in Washington, Sacoolas said she had used the car for “errands” after arriving in the UK in July 2019, and admitted being on the “American side” at the time of the crash.
“I started driving and a short distance, erm ahead I remember seeing Harry, being confused, and the accident happening all you know at the same time really”, she said in an interview with police.
Mr Atkinson said Sacoolas “saw the fire, got her children out of the car and went to help Harry”.
“She did not want to move him in case that hurt him.”
Mr Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, broke down in tears as she spoke of how her son was “so senselessly and cruelly taken from us”.
“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”, she said.
“Harry just disappeared out of my life that night, shattering my existence forever.
“I didn’t make it to the hospital in time before he passed and the thought of that haunts me to my core.
“I beat myself up over and over again – 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.
“Although I have my other beautiful son Niall with me and the rest of my family, there is an intense feeling of emptiness in the pit of my stomach without my cheerful Harry around.
“His passing haunts me every minute of every day and I’m not sure how I’m ever going to get over it.”
Speaking after the suspended sentence was handed down, Mrs Charles said she would not agree to a meeting with Sacoolas.
“Anne Sacoolas now has a criminal record. Yep, Harry, we’ve done it”, she said. “We would have been happy with anything – for us, it was just about doing the right thing.”
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said “important lessons” had been learned from the Anne Sacoolas case.
“Since Harry’s death in August 2019, we have been clear that Ms Sacoolas should return to the UK to face British justice.
“Since she chose not to, virtual hearings were arranged as the most viable way to bring the case to court and give justice to Harry’s family.
“I want to pay tribute to the incredible resolve of Harry’s family and I hope that the judgment provides some closure.
“We have learnt important lessons from this tragic incident, including improvements to the process around exemptions from diplomatic immunity and ensuring the US takes steps to improve road safety around RAF Croughton.”
Sacoolas pleaded guilty in October to causing death by careless driving.
Mr Dunn’s death sparked an international diplomacy row when Sacoolas, the wife of a CIA officer Jonathan Sacoolas, left the UK 19 days after the crash.
Her husband had been stationed at RAF Croughton, and diplomatic immunity was asserted on behalf of his wife when she was allowed to leave the country.
Ms Charles and Harry’s father Tim Dunn mounted an international campaign to bring Sacoolas to justice, travelling to the US for talks at the White House and maintaining pleas for her to return to the UK so that a criminal prosecution could begin.
However the US blocked attempts to extradite Sacoolas, and a UK High Court challenge revealed that a loophole in the diplomatic immunity arrangements had allowed her to leave legally.
A criminal charge was laid against Sacoolas by the Crown Prosecution Service in December 2019, and ultimately it was agreed she could appear in court via videolink when the case finally began in September this year, with Sacoolas being charged by letter.
She has made all her court appearances from the offices of her US lawyers.
At the Old Bailey last month, Mr Atkinson KC said the CPS had decided not to pursue the more serious charge of causing death by dangerous driving.
“This case relates to the fatal injury of 19-year-old Harry Dunn on the evening of August 27, 2019, following a collision between hs motorbike and the car being driven by this defendant”, he said.
“(She) was at the time driving on the wrong side of the road, having turned from an air base in Croughton on her way home, having travelled a distance of 350m over a period of 23 to 26 seconds.
“While the Crown recognises objectively driving on the wrong side of the road - putting at risk vulnerable road users such as motorcyclists - is capable of amounting to dangerous driving, regard must also be had to the subjective culpability of the offender.
“In particular, the culpability of overseas nationals without experience of driving on the roads of this country can properly be approached as less than that of UK nationals with more familiarity with our road traffic laws.
“The prosecution took account of that and other mitigation available to the defendant and the balance of the interests of justice. It has been considered at a very high level with the very greatest of care, and in close consultation with Harry’s family.
“The Crown considers the plea to death by careless driving, in the particular circumstances and facts of this case, is an appropriate one.”
In a statement in September 2020, US lawyers for Sacoolas said she was open to participating in virtual court proceedings and “has never tried to avoid being held accountable for the tragic accident”.
“She would like nothing more than to find a path forward and to provide the family some measure of peace”, they said, setting out what happened in the run-up to, and immediate aftermath of the crash.
“Anne did everything she could to assist Harry. After the accident, she ran from her car and tried to help him”, they said in the statement.
“Anne then saw another motorist approach and flagged her down for more support. “
The other motorist immediately called for the emergency services and Anne made calls to alert the police from the nearby air force base.
“The base police arrived quickly and assisted Harry.
“Tragically, it took over 40 minutes for the ambulance to arrive and nearly two hours passed before Harry was admitted to the hospital.
“Anne did not leave the scene until she was instructed to do so by the UK authorities.”
It is understood she was instructed by her employers, the US government, not to fly to the UK for today’s hearing.
When she adjourned the case for sentencing, Mrs Justice Cheema Grubb said it would be “weighty evidence indeed of genuine remorse” if Sacoolas flew to the UK to be sentenced in person.
And she accepted: “Any sentence I impose is likely to be unenforceable while the defendant remains outside the UK.”
The court heard Sacoolas has received death threats and had to move home since being identified as the driver responsible for Mr Dunn’s death.
