Review raps police over failure to arrest Harry crash driver

POLICE failed to arrest a former US state department employee after her car struck and killed a teenage motorcyclist because they prioritised the suspect's welfare over a "prompt and effective investigation", a review has concluded.

- JOSH PAYNE [e-mail]

Anne Sacoolas, who was able to leave the UK under diplomatic immunity laws 19 days after the crash that left 19-year-old Harry Dunn fatally injured, was not arrested at the scene after police believed the "necessity test" had not been met.

The independent review also heavily criticised Northamptonshire Police’s former chief constable Nick Adderley, whose “erroneous statements” about Sacoolas’s immunity status led the Foreign Office to contact the force asking him not to repeat them.

The report, commissioned by Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet, concluded there was a lack of coordination and adherence to professional standards guidelines among senior leadership within the force.

The force apologised to the Dunn family for “what is now clear was a failure on our part to do the very best for the victim in this case.”

Harry, of Charlton near Banbury, was killed when Sacoolas’s Volvo, which was travelling on the wrong side of the road, struck his motorbike near US military base RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019.

The Dunn family spent three years campaigning for justice after diplomatic immunity was asserted on behalf of the US suspect, which saw them meet US President Donald Trump in the White House.

Sacoolas eventually pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving via video link at the Old Bailey in December 2022, and she later received an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.

Reacting to the review, Harry’s mother, Charlotte Charles, told the PA news agency the failures by the force were something “no family should ever have to endure”.