Police salute Harry Dunn's familyafter Northamptonshire teen's killer Anne Sacoolas is sentenced

Northamptonshire Police has issued a statement saluting a three-year battle for justice by Harry Dunn's family after Anne Sacoolas was sentenced for causing the Northamptonshire teenager's death.

American Ms Sacoolas was jailed for eight months suspended for a year after appearing via a video link at the Old Bailey on Thursday (December 8). The 45-year-old had denied causing death by dangerous driving but admitted a lesser charge of causing death by careless driving after Serious Collision Investigation Unit evidence showed she had been driving on the wrong side of the road at the time of the fatal crash.

The police statement said: “Throughout this long process we have been determined to deliver a judicial outcome for Harry’s family. They have spent more than three years shining a light on this case in their quest for justice for him. While their tragic loss will always be felt, we hope they now feel justice has been delivered and they can begin to move forward with their lives.

“This was an extremely complex and challenging case, but Northamptonshire Police carried out a full and thorough investigation following the tragic events of August 27, 2019.

“Through the determined efforts of colleagues in our Serious Collision Investigation Unit, we were eventually able to bring a case file to our partners in the Crown Prosecution Service and, thanks to their diligence over a prolonged period of time, this ultimately led to the charging and later admission of guilt by Anne Sacoolas.”

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC told the court that Sacoolas’ Volvo XC90 had turned out of RAF Croughton at 8.21pm and driven 350 metres on the wrong side of the B4031 road for 26 seconds before hitting 19-year-old Harry's Kawasaki motorbike head-on near a US military base at RAF Croughton in August 2019.

Mr Atkinson described camera footage showing an “explosion” and fire at the point where the headlights of Sacoolas’ car and Harry’s motorcycle met. The court also heard that the collision threw Harry onto the front of the Volvo and then over the vehicle, shattering the rear window and his motorcycle caught fire. Harry, from Charlton, near Brackley, was taken to John Radcliffe Hospital’s major trauma centre in Oxford, where he died at 10.15pm that night.

Sacoolas, whose husband worked in CIA military intelligence at the base, was interviewed by police the following day but then left the country and was granted diplomatic immunity.

Judge Mrs Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb revealed that Northamptonshire Police had created four plans to protect Sacoolas when she returned to the UK for sentencing but these had been rejected.

Harry’s parents dropped a legal claim against Northamptonshire Police in 2021 after concluding the force was “kept in the dark” by Foreign Office officials when Sacoolas fled the country 19 days after the fatal crash — before she could be charged.

Northamptonshire Police also confirmed formal complaints against the force made by Harry's mum Charlotte Charles and dad Tim Dunn and their advisor Radd Seiger, were "dealt with locally and in liaison with the family”.