Harry Dunn family kept in the dark as killer driver Anne Sacoolas left UK with immunity, damning review finds
The 19-year-old died after US State Department employee Anne Sacoolas crashed into him whilst driving on the wrong side of the road at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019
Harry Dunn's family were not told the name of their son's killer or that she had immunity from prosecution until after she had left the country, an independent review has found.
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The 19-year-old died after US State Department employee Anne Sacoolas crashed into him whilst driving on the wrong side of the road at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019.
Sacoolas was allowed to leave the country on September 15, but Mr Dunn's family was not told this - nor her identity or the fact she had immunity - until 11 days later.
A report written by chairwoman Dame Anne Owers noted that Mr Dunn's father was already aware that Sacoolas's children had left the country, because he was head of maintenance at their school.
Describing a series of "failings and omissions" by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Dame Anne Owens said the withholding of information caused "distrust" among Mr Dunn's family.
"This understandably created distrust both of the message and the messengers," she said.
"The belief that there had been a conspiracy between the UK and US authorities to secretly 'spirit her out', with information deliberately withheld from the family."
Sacoolas was not arrested at the scene because officers deemed her to be in a "state of shock", a police inquiry found.
The report explained that she had diplomatic immunity at the time because she was the wife of a US intelligence officer.
After she left UK, the then-foreign secretary Dominic Raab was not told until the following day.
Northamptonshire Police were not told by the FCDO that Sacoolas's diplomatic immunity was in place until she was back in the US.
The Dunn family spent three years campaigning for justice, which saw them meet US President Donald Trump in the White House.
She eventually returned to the UK and was handed an eight-month suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to causing death by careless driving in 2022.
The loophole that meant Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity was closed in 2020.
"The issue was not recognised as a crisis and escalated to a sufficiently high level at an early stage, losing opportunities to influence, rather than respond to, events," said Dame Anne.
"Direct communication with the family was late, sporadic and often overtaken by events, and the FCDO was slow to recognise that the family were allies in achieving justice and securing other necessary changes."
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government was "committed to the learning the lessons from this tragedy".
In a statement, Mr Dunn's mother Charlotte Charles said the review had been "a hugely emotional experience" that "triggered a lot of anger".
Mr Dunn's father Tim Dunn said: "The hardest part is knowing that more could and should have been done for our boy in those early days.
"The lack of escalation, the confusion, the silence; it all made our loss so much harder to carry.
"What matters now is that lessons are learned. We expect every recommendation to be implemented so that no other family has to fight like we did."