Labour has asked the government whether disgraced former minister Chris Pincher made any attempts to stop American Anne Sacoolas going to the US after she killed Harry Dunn in a road accident.
Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy has written to Foreign Secretary James Cleverly about the “series of failures” in the Foreign Office after Sacoolas was allowed to leave the UK and given diplomatic immunity following the 2019 incident.
Last week, the American former spy was handed a suspended eight-month prison sentence for causing death by dangerous driving after she crashed into motorcyclist Mr Dunn, 19, while driving on the wrong side of the road outside a US military base in Northamptonshire, where her husband worked.
The case led to a transatlantic row between the US and UK governments after the US administration asserted diplomatic immunity on her, allowing her to leave the UK 19 days later. She has never returned.
Mr Lammy has asked the foreign secretary to reveal the extent of the involvement of Chris Pincher, who was Minister for Europe and the Americas at the time, in liaising with US diplomatic authorities when Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity handed to her.
Mr Pincher was a Conservative MP then, but is now an independent after he had the whip removed when he was accused earlier this year of groping two men when he was drunk – which ultimately led to Boris Johnson’s resignation.
Mr Lammy has also called on the government to publish details of Mr Pincher’s correspondence with the US about Sacoolas’ immunity.
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And he asked Mr Cleverly if Mr Pincher or Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, who was foreign secretary at the time, provided “any objection at all” to the US removing Sacoolas from the UK.
He said the US authorities informed the Foreign Office in September 2019 they intended to remove her “unless there is a strong objection”.
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Lessons need to be learned
Mr Lammy has also called on the Foreign Office to carry out an inquiry into the case and make sure lessons have been learnt around exemptions for diplomatic immunity, and publish what lessons have been learned.
The shadow foreign secretary asked why the Foreign Office did not provide official representation with Mr Dunn’s family when they visited then-president Donald Trump in 2019 to urge him to get Sacoolas to return to the UK and engage with a police investigation.
Mr Dunn’s parents, Charlotte Charles and Timm Dunn, turned down the surprise offer as they described it as “not appropriate” with no mediators or therapists present.
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‘Why didn’t you go to UK to attend court?’
Mr Lammy said: “This week’s judgment on the Harry Dunn case marks at least some justice after the Dunn family’s courageous and unwavering fight for Harry following his tragic death.
“The pain the Dunn family have had to endure, made worse by a series of failures in Foreign Office, must never be repeated. No other family can ever be allowed to go through this again.”
Radd Seiger, the Dunn family’s spokesman, said they have “no intention of becoming embroiled in a political spat” and criticised the government for not helping them out until they launched a public campaign to get justice.
He told Sky News: “We were shocked to learn this year that it was in fact the now disgraced Chris Pincher, then Minister for the Americas, that was supposedly the man in charge of standing up to the might of the US Superpower to insist that Anne Sacoolas did not leave.
“It is only right and proper that his decisions and actions, and those of his teams, now be scrutinised publicly as David Lammy has called for. We want and are entitled to know why this scandal was allowed to unfold and what is going to be done to ensure it never happens again. There has to be an inquiry.”
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‘It was three years of pure fight’
During Sacoolas’ sentencing last week, the judge praised Mr Dunn’s parents and family for their “dignified persistence”, which she said had led Sacoolas to “acknowledge her guilt”.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: “Since Harry’s death in August 2019 we have been clear that Ms Sacoolas should return to the UK to face British justice.
“Since she chose not to, virtual hearings were arranged as the most viable way to bring the case to Court and give justice to Harry’s family.
“I want to pay tribute to the incredible resolve of Harry’s family and I hope that the judgment provides some closure.
“We have learnt important lessons from this tragic incident, including improvements to the process around exemptions from diplomatic immunity and ensuring the US takes steps to improve road safety around RAF Croughton.”
Sky News has contacted Mr Pincher’s office for a comment.
Emergency responders are searching for bodies inside stranded cars and buildings following deadly flash floods in Spain that have killed at least 158 people.
Scenes of destruction have been left in the wake of the powerful floodwaters which hit the east of the country late on Tuesday and early Wednesday, marking Spain‘s worst natural disaster this century.
Cars have been piled high on top of each other, homes and businesses have been swept away, trees have been uprooted, and roads and bridges have been left unrecognisable.
At least 92 people have died in the worst-hit region of Valencia, while deaths were also reported in Castilla La Mancha and southern Andalusia.
An unknown number of people remain missing.
“Unfortunately, there are dead people inside some vehicles,” Spain’s transport minister Oscar Puente said.
In the Valencian district of La Torre, nine dead bodies were discovered inside a garage – with a local police officer among the victims.
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Man pulled from deadly floods
Luis Sanchez, a welder, said he saved several people from floodwaters rushing through the V-31 motorway south of Valencia city.
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“I saw bodies floating past. I called out but nothing,” Mr Sanchez said.
“The firefighters took the elderly first, when they could get in. I am from nearby so I tried to help and rescue people. People were crying all over, they were trapped.”
Satellite images from NASA show how severe flooding has impacted Valencia and its surrounding towns.
The images, captured on 30 October, show large areas to the south of the city covered in floodwater.
The Turia river, which runs through the city, can be seen at a much higher level.
The Pobles del Sud, a large lake nearby, overflowed. Much of the area surrounding the lake was covered in floodwater.
The worst of the destruction was concentrated in Paiporta, a municipality next to Valencia city, where 62 people have been reported dead.
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Spanish town ‘worst-hit’ by floods
Mayor Maribel Albalat told national broadcaster RTVE: “We found a lot of elderly people in the town centre. There were also a lot of people who came to get their cars out of their garages… it was a real trap.”
What has caused the devastation?
The flooding events in Spain have been hard to witness. But the rainfall there could never have been anything but devastating.
Chiva, located just to the west of Valencia, received 491mm of rain in an eight-hour window.
Some 100-200mm fell in surrounding areas with the accumulation of running water producing apocalyptic scenes.
In addition there have been over 20,000 lightning strikes.
Whilst the rainfall totals are astounding in themselves, this part of the world is simply not accustomed to huge quantities of water falling from the sky.
In an average year, Spain would expect somewhere between 50 and 100 mm of rain throughout the entire month of October but Valencia and Andalusia would expect far less – just 60–70mm.
So how did this happen? It’s attributable to a DANA, a “depresion aislada en niveles altos” or a “cut-off low”.
This is a low pressure system which becomes slow moving or stationary, blocked by high pressure elsewhere, which can only keep shedding its rain over the same area for long periods of time.
These systems are not that unusual. They occur when cool air from the north is drawn across the Mediterranean in late summer and autumn when the waters are war. The temperature differential enhances storms and rainfall totals.
But whilst not uncommon, this one was certainly extreme.
And it hasn’t gone yet. This same system has continued to bring further heavy rain and thunderstorms today, but it has now moved a little further north and east, heading toward the French border and currently remaining to the west of Barcelona.
The rain and thunderstorms are likely to continue for a few days yet with the Tarragona and Castellon regions still under an amber warning while a yellow warning remains in force for both eastern and western Spain.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday morning that Valencia had been declared a disaster zone and that the priority was to find victims and missing people.
He also urged those affected to stay at home as more torrential rain was forecast.
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“The most important thing is that I know Spanish people are aware that this phenomenon has not finished,” he said.
Sky News’ Europe correspondent Adam Parsons, reporting from Valencia, said the devastation suffered in the region is “enormous”.
“What we’re witnessing now are the locals here who are waking up and seeing what’s happened to their town and what has happened is something almost apocalyptic,” he said.
A nearby shop was left “absolutely wrecked” and looked like a “bomb has gone off in there”, he added.
Three days of mourning has been declared in Spain, beginning on Thursday.
Spain’s Mediterranean coast is used to autumn storms that can cause flooding, but this was the most powerful flash flood event in recent memory, and scientists have linked its strength to climate change.
“When the alert came the water was already two metres high,” Carolina shouts from her balcony. “There were no police, firefighters or the mayor. No one came to rescue us.”
The distress is echoed street after street.
Carmen puts her head in her hands and weeps.
“They have lost everything,” she says, pointing at her neighbours’ houses.
Every home is in ruins and their owners are heartbroken.
Dolores shows us inside her house. She says the flood was up to the ceiling but because no help came, they have had to hammer holes in the walls to clear the water.
“I feel awful. I’m terrified and very afraid. My husband is sick – we need more help,” she says.
The level of destruction is immense.
On the street, we meet Noel with his children. The youngest toddler barefoot in the mud.
Yesterday, Noel and his wife had nothing to eat. He feels helpless.
“Right now, there are people who are trapped. The mud is up to their waists, so they can’t open their doors,” he says.
“I live on a high floor so I didn’t have problems with the flooding in my home, but I don’t have water, light, or food.”
There’s a growing feeling of desperation in this suburb.
At one point, someone shouts “food!” and people rush to grab what they can from a nearby shop.
It’s not clear if they have been let in by the owner or are looting.
The devastation is so great and at a time when people are at their most in need, they feel frustrated and alone.
In a nearby shelter we meet people from Algemesi who have been made homeless by the flood.
Carol says she has never felt so hopeless.
“There was a tree trunk that came into the front of my house. There are no walls, no ceiling. I don’t have anything. There’s nothing left,” she explains, beginning to cry.
For many, the initial trauma of this natural disaster has been compounded in the aftermath by a feeling of loss and loneliness.
Thousands of North Korean soldiers are now positioned near Ukraine’s border and likely to enter combat in the coming days, the US says.
Russian troops have been training them in artillery, drones and “basic infantry operations, including trench clearing”, said US secretary of state Antony Blinken.
He said it strongly indicated they would be used on the front line and would therefore become legitimate targets for Ukraine.
Some 10,000 North Korean troops are in Russia, including up to 8,000 in the Kursk border region, Mr Blinken said.
The troops are wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian gear, according to US defence secretary Lloyd Austin.
“We’ve not yet seen these troops deploy into combat against Ukrainian forces, but we would expect that to happen in the coming days,” Mr Blinken said on Thursday.
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America’s top diplomat said the recruitment of troops from North Korea to Russia’s “meat grinder” was a “clear sign of weakness”.
Mr Blinken made the assessment after he and Mr Austin met their South Korean counterparts in Washington DC.
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Foreign minister Cho Tae-yul called for the immediate withdrawal of North Korean soldiers from Russia and condemned it “in the strongest possible terms”.
They also all agreed China should do more to rein in North Korea, Mr Blinken said, adding that he’d had a “robust conversation” with Beijing this week.
Mr Austin also announced that – with the US election just days away – America would soon be announcing new security assistance for Ukraine.
The deployment of troops to Russia is down to the close relationship between President Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
A mutual defence pact was agreed during their summit, meaning the countries will help each other if they are attacked.
The US says North Korea has also given munitions to Russia as it continues its grinding effort to take more territory in Ukraine’s east.
The White House published images earlier this month which it said showed 1,000 containers of equipment being sent to Russia by rail.
There are concerns about what military aid Russia will now provide in exchange.
North Korea test-fired an an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time in almost a year on Thursday and there is speculation Russia may have provided technological help.
In a statement, the US, Japan and South Korea condemned the launch as a “flagrant violation” of UN resolutions.
“We strongly urge (North Korea) to immediately cease its series of provocative and destabilising actions that threaten peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and beyond,” they said.