Harry Dunn: what did Joe Biden say about Anne Sacoolas diplomatic immunity row - and what happened to the teenager?
US President Joe Biden is “actively engaged” and “extremely sympathetic” in the case of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn Boris Johnson has said.
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Hide AdThe leaders of the US and UK discussed the 19-year-old, who was killed when a car crashed into his motorbike outside a military base in Northamptonshire, ahead of the G7 summit of world leaders in Cornwall.
At a glance: 5 key points
- Harry Dunn was killed on August 27, 2019, when his motorbike collided with a car near a Royal Air Force base in Northamptonshire
- Dunn’s death sparked an international controversy after Anne Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf and left the UK with her family in the weeks following the crash
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Hide Ad- The decision to allow her to escape justice in the UK infuriated the Dunn family who have made direct appeals to the US government to have her sent her back to Britain
- She has since been charged with causing the death of the teenager by dangerous driving
- Anne Sacoolas is the wife of a US diplomat who was stationed on the US intelligence base at RAF Croughton, Northamptonshire in 2019
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Hide AdWhat’s been said
“You should really – when you get the chance – put your question to the president because he is actively engaged in the case.
“As you know, he has his own personal reasons for feeling very deeply about the issue. And he was extremely sympathetic, but this is not something that either government can control very easily because there are legal processes that are still going on.
“But he did express a great deal of sympathy, as indeed this government continues to do for the family of Harry Dunn.”
The Prime Minister told the BBC
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The Dunn family said they were pleased to see the case raised at the “first available opportunity” but Boris Johnson said he understood there were “limits” to what Mr Biden could do.
Speaking after the PM raised the matter with President Biden at the G7, Dunn family spokesman Radd Seiger told the PA news agency: “Harry’s parents are very pleased to see that the PM has taken the opportunity to raise the case with President Biden at the first available opportunity.
“This rightly shows just how important this issue is and we are very grateful to the Prime Minister and his team for doing so.
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Hide Ad“As all parties know there is no greater force on earth than the love between a mother and child.
“The family will continue to pursue justice until it is done.”
The Dunn family have challenged the diplomatic immunity asserted on Sacoolas’s behalf, which will be heard in the Court of Appeal next year.
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Hide AdMr Dunn’s parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, have also brought a civil claim against the suspect and her husband in the US state of Virginia.
Boris Johnson said the US executive and legal and judiciary system were “working together”.
Additional reporting by PA.