Former U.S. spy Anne Sacoolas will not attend her sentencing hearing in the wrongful death of teenager Harry Dunn in London on Thursday because the U.S. government advised her to stay at home. Sacoolas pleaded guilty to causing the teen’s death in an October hearing.
Dunn’s parents, who had been told she would attend in person, lashed out at the U.S. government for “interfering” with British justice, according to their family spokesperson, Radd Seiger.
“Harry’s family are victims of a serious crime and they have been kept in the dark completely about what is to come at Thursday’s hearing since Mrs. Sacoolas’ guilty plea,” he said in a statement to The Daily Beast. “We are horrified to learn that the United States Government is now actively interfering in our criminal justice system. Their ongoing cruel treatment of Harry’s parents is nothing short of inhumane and it continues to take a heavy toll on their mental health.”
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Sacoolas, whose lawyer confirmed to The Daily Beast she was working for the United States as an intelligence officer, hit Dunn on his motorcycle as she drove her Volvo down the wrong side of the road outside the Royal Air Force Croughton base in Northamptonshire, U.K., on Aug. 27, 2019.
She stayed at the young Briton’s side until an ambulance arrived and then returned to the base with one of her children in her car. She was interviewed by British police before being secretly ferried back to the U.S. on a military flight after invoking diplomatic immunity, angering Dunn’s parents and the population at large.
Dunn’s parents visited the U.S. in October that year to petition for her return to face justice, and were invited to the White House, where then-President Donald Trump had Sacoolas hiding behind a door should they consent to meet her. They refused, insisting they would only face her in a British court.
Three years later, Sacoolas pleaded guilty to causing Dunn’s death. She will be sentenced Thursday and faces a maximum five year prison term if convicted.
Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, said she was relieved that Sacoolas admitted to killing her son after trying so hard to win him justice. “Just sheer relief that we could look up and say, ‘Harry, we’ve done it, mate. We’ve done what we promised,’” she said when Sacoolas entered her guilty plea in October. “Nobody gets to kill somebody and walk away, whether intentional or otherwise.We know she didn’t intend to kill Harry, but she did.”
Sacoolas had earlier suggested through her U.S. lawyer that she would attend the trial in person, but the U.S. government had advised her against, it, according to her lawyer’s petition to extend permission to appear by video link. “The application made jointly by the prosecution and defence for Mrs Sacoolas to participate and be sentenced by live link, has been renewed,” a spokesperson for Old Bailey court told The Daily Beast. “The defence have supplied material in support of the application including evidence that Mrs Sacoolas’ government employer has advised her not to attend in person.”
For the family of Harry Dunn, nothing will ever excuse the woman who admitted killing their son. “If there is a genuine reason why Mrs. Sacoolas should not appear in court on Thursday, as directed by the judge, then the parents would happily accept that,” their spokesman said in the statement. “But on the face of it, it appears that this is nothing short of a cowardly act on the part of an oppressor.”
