Harry Dunn: Coroner criticises US government over lack of driver training for Americans at base near where teenager died
The coroner in the inquest into the death of Harry Dunn has recommended better driver training for Americans at the RAF base near where the 19-year-old was killed.
Mr Dunn was hit by a Volvo driven by Anne Sacoolas in August 2019, after she drove on the wrong side of the B4031 in Northamptonshire while he was riding a motorbike.
He died at hospital the same day.
The coroner concluded Mr Dunn died as a result of a road traffic collision and issued three prevention of future death notices in a bid to stop similar tragedies occurring.
Analysis: Harry’s family still have questions over crash – but killer has remained in the shadows
Two prevention of death notices were sent to the UK’s Department of Health over the drugs paramedics carry and overworked ambulance services.
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Sky News confronts Anne Sacoolas in 2022
A third notice was issued to the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence around driver training at RAF Croughton.
Sacoolas, a US government employee, had been based at the RAF station – which is also used by US forces – at the time the crash happened.
Northamptonshire coroner Anne Pember criticised the US government for a lack of training provided to Sacoolas before the crash.
Harry Dunn (L) and his brother Niall, with their stepfather Bruce Charles. Pic: PA
Harry Dunn’s family responds
Neither Sacoolas nor representatives from the US embassy attended the inquest – prompting the Dunn family spokesperson Radd Seiger to say the US government’s position was that “lives of UK citizens like Harry ultimately do not matter”.
Speaking after the inquest, he said: “It was not enough for them to kill Harry. It wasn’t enough for them to then kick Harry’s family in their darkest hour and seek to deny and delay the justice that they were entitled to.
“As we have all seen this week their attitude and approach to keeping their British hosts safe has been laid bare and they have positively obstructed the coroner’s inquiry and deprived the family of the answers they were entitled to as to why no one has ever addressed the issue of safety of UK citizens.”
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Harry Dunn’s family with spokesman Radd Seiger (centre)
Harry Dunn’s dad, Tim, became emotional outside the inquest
Mr Seiger also said Labour, if they get into power, has promised the family a public inquiry into how Sacoolas was able to leave the country with diplomatic immunity after causing Harry’s death.
“We won’t let [the US government] get away with it and we look forward to working with the next government to establish this public inquiry,” he said.
“We were all horrified as a nation to see how the US government treated Harry’s family. This must never happen again.
“The American national anthem ends ‘land of the free, home of the brave’. They haven’t demonstrated an ounce of bravery at all preferring to run, hide and obstruct.”
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Dunn family ‘totally disgusted’
Harry’s mother, Charlotte Charles, said she was “totally disgusted” that Sacoolas and US embassy representatives did not attend the inquest.
“I’ve think they’ve further disrespected Harry and the future he could have had,” she said, adding she feels they have shown “no regard” for her late son or family.
“We had to fight for three and a half years to even get to the Old Bailey, to get our form of justice done,” she said. “And then to have to wait another 18 months after that for our inquest, is pretty much unheard of.
“We’re tired, we’re exhausted and unfortunately, we are still angry with the US government for making us wait this long.”
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Anne Sacoolas’s witness statements
Evidence and two witness statements from Sacoolas were read out during the inquest after the US government employee rejected the coroner’s invitation to attend in person.
In one of the statements Sacoolas apologised for the “tragic mistake” she made on the day of the crash and said it was something that would live with her “every single day for the rest of my life”.
Harry Dunn’s family still have questions over fatal crash
It was October 2019. I had been made aware of a terrible crash which had killed a young motorcyclist called Harry Dunn a few months earlier.
The tip-off was Harry’s family were sure the person responsible worked for the US secret services, and she had left the country.
I was even given a name: Anne Sacoolas.
It was an unusual name. That night I did a search, and to my surprise she appeared on Facebook.
What spy would be on social media, I thought?
She said that when she turned out of RAF Croughton, taking a left turn, she instinctively moved to the right side of the road as she was “accustomed to driving in the US”.
She also told Northamptonshire Police in a voluntary interview two months after the crash that she was a “safe driver” but “drove like an American and drove on the American side of the road”.
Harry was killed near the RAF Croughton base
The 45-year-old said she had not received any training on driving on UK roads after arriving in the country and after the crash “hysterically flagged down a motorist” and “begged her to get help”.
“There is not a single day that goes by that Harry is not on my mind, and I am deeply sorry for the pain that I have caused,” Sacoolas said in the statement.
Reacting to the statements, Mr Seiger said: “We have heard most of that before.
“Why on earth is Sacoolas not in court to answer the court’s and the family’s questions?”
Sacoolas left Britain 19 days after the crash after the US Department of State asserted diplomatic immunity on her behalf.
In December 2022, after a protracted battle for justice by the family, she appeared before a High Court judge at the Old Bailey via video link from the US, when she pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving.
Sacoolas was advised against attending her sentencing hearing by the state department, which prompted the Dunn family to say they were “horrified” the American government was “actively interfering in our criminal justice system”.
She was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for a year.
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Harry Dunn’s twin’s tribute
The inquest also heard from Mr Dunn’s twin brother Niall who referred to him as “an amazing person” who helped him when he found life hard-going.
In a video played to the inquest, he said: “I couldn’t have asked for a better brother, but beyond that, just a better person to just be forced to know”.
Donald Trump has ambushed South Africa’s president during a White House meeting by playing a video purportedly showing evidence of a “genocide” of white people in the African country.
The US president, who was hosting leader Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, said the footage showed the graves of thousands of white farmers.
Mr Ramaphosa sat quietly and mostly expressionless while a montage of videos was played, and he later said: “I’d like to know where that is because this [the videos] I’ve never seen”.
The lights had been dimmed in the room as videos were shown, including of South African officials allegedly calling for violence against white farmers.
South Africa has rejected the allegation that white people are disproportionately targeted by crime.
The videos include one of a communist politician playing a controversial anti-apartheid song that includes lyrics about killing a farmer.
Mr Trump accused South Africa of failing to address the killing of white farmers. “People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety,” the US president said. “Their land is being confiscated and in many cases they’re being killed.”
Alluding to people in the videos, Mr Trump said: “These are people that are officials and they’re saying… kill the white farmer and take their land.”
Cyril Ramaphosa and Donald Trump in the Oval Office today
The US president then displayed printed copies of articles that he said showed white South Africans who had been killed, saying “death, death” as he flipped through them.
He added of one article: “Here’s burial sites all over the place, these are all white farmers that are being buried.”
South African leader rejects allegations
Mr Ramaphosa pushed back against Mr Trump’s accusations, by responding: “What you saw, the speeches that were being made, that is not government policy. We have a multi-party democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves, political parties to adhere to various policies.
“And in many cases or in some cases, those policies do not go along with government policy.
“Our government policy is completely, completely against what he [a person in the video montage] was saying. Even in the parliament. And they are a small minority party which is allowed to exist in terms of our constitution.”
Mr Ramaphosa also said of the behaviour alleged by Mr Trump: “We are completely opposed to that.”
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Mr Ramaphosa said there was crime in South Africa, and the majority of victims were black. Mr Trump cut him off and said: “The farmers are not black.” The South African president responded: “These are concerns we are willing to talk to you about.”
Mr Trump has cancelled aid, expelled South Africa’s ambassador and offered refuge to white minority Afrikaners based on racial discrimination claims which Pretoria says are unfounded.
Experts in South Africa say there is no evidence of white people being targeted, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.
Universal has opened a new theme park to rival Disney World in Florida.
NBCUniversal owner Comcast, which also owns Sky News, is rewriting the Orlando travel itinerary with its $7bn Epic Universe.
The 750-acre park features five worlds themed around movie and game franchises NBCUniversal owns or licenses.
These include Super Nintendo World, complete with a Mario Kart ride, and the immersive Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic.
Pic: Reuters
Fans pose for pictures in Super Nintendo World. Pic: Reuters
How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, Celestial Park and Dark Universe complete the park.
The project is the first major theme park to open in the US in more than 20 years and marks Comcast’s largest investment in Universal attractions since it gained control of the business in 2011.
People riding the Dragon’s Racers Rally rollercoaster. Pic: Reuters
Comcast president Mike Cavanaugh said: “This is the one part of the media ecosystem that is not vulnerable to screen-shifting. It’s still beloved as a thing to do with friends and family.
“It would be silly not to be stepping on the gas.”
The sprawling park covers 750 acres. Pic: Reuters
Epic Universe could attract 9.5 million visitors and bring in more than $1.3bn in revenue in 2026, analyst Craig Moffett has predicted.
Another new Universal theme park is also in the pipeline, with the company set to open its first European resort in 2031.
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The park will be in Bedfordshire and is expected to become the UK’s most popular visitor attraction.
The UK government has said it will bring in an estimated £50bn to the British economy and create around 28,000 jobs.
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