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WorldHarry Dunn: Anne Sacoolas receives a prison sentence for a deadly crash

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Harry Dunn: Anne Sacoolas receives a prison sentence for a deadly crash

A US citizen who killed teen motorcyclist Harry Dunn has been given an eight-month prison term with a 12-month suspension.

Around a US military base in Northamptonshire in August 2019, Anne Sacoolas, 45, struck Mr. Dunn, 19, while driving on the wrong side of the road.

Sacoolas participated in the hearing at the London Old Bailey via video link.

Charlotte Charles, the mother of Mr. Dunn, claimed that her “promise” to obtain justice for her son “is well and truly complete.”

At a hearing in the same court in October, she had previously acknowledged that her reckless driving was what led to his death.

Additionally, Sacoolas was banned from driving for a year.

Following the crash, Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf by the US administration and left the UK 19 days later, leading to a transatlantic row.

The sentencing brings a legal resolution to Mr Dunn’s family after a three-year wait for justice.

Mrs Charles said: “Anne Sacoolas has a criminal record for the rest of her life.

“That was something she never thought she’d see, something the US government never thought they’d see.

“Harry we done it. We’re good, we’re good.”

The teenager’s father, Tim Dunn, added: “It’s been such a relentless time, we as a family fought off everything we can to get to this point.”

The defendant appeared via video-link from the US after her employer, the US government, advised her not to attend the sentencing hearing.

Mrs Charles said her failure to attend the sentencing in person was “despicable”, adding she was “absolutely disgusted” by the decision.

Sacoolas was originally charged with causing death by dangerous driving, but the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) accepted her guilty plea to the lesser charge.

In her sentencing remarks to Sacoolas, Judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said: “There is no doubt that the calm and dignified persistence of these parents and the family of that young man has led, through three years of heartbreak and effort, to your appearance before the court and the opportunity for you to acknowledge your guilt of a crime.”

Court drawing of Anne Sacoolas and Amy Jefferies
IMAGE SOURCE,JULIA QUENZLER/BBC Image caption, Anne Sacoolas (right) appeared via video-link at the Old Bailey with her lawyer Amy Jefferies

Mrs Charles said she was “grateful” for the judge’s words during the sentencing.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC told the court that on 27 August 2019, Sacoolas turned out of RAF Croughton and drove 350 metres (1,148ft) on the wrong side of the road for 26 seconds.

He said she failed to recognise road markings which should have alerted her to this error.

She then hit Mr Dunn, who was riding his motorbike on the correct side of the road.

Mr Atkinson said: “Neither driver appeared to have seen or reacted to the other.”

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