Who is Anne Sacoolas? UK teen Harry Dunn's killer worked for US intelligence, diplomatic immunity in jeopardy
In a recent development in the Harry Dunn murder trial, a court heard that the woman accused of driving her car along the wrong side of the road and killing the British teen in a collision was working for an intelligence agency in the US at the time of the accident.
The 19-year-old British teenager, Dunn, died from a road traffic collision on August 27, 2019. He was on his motorcycle near Croughton, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, when a car coming from the opposite direction collided with him. The car, which was on the wrong side of the road, was being driven by Anne Sacoolas, wife of US diplomat John Sacoolas, who worked at the US Air Force listening station at RAF Croughton. Sacoolas admitted she was driving on the wrong side of the wrong, and CCTV footage also led police to confirm the same. Dunn was pronounced dead at the Major Trauma Centre of John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.
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Following the death of Dunn, the incident became a hot topic after the US government advised and assisted Sacoolas to flee the country under diplomatic immunity and she returned to the US to be with her family. By December 2019 the Crown Prosecution Service revealed that she was to be charged with causing death by dangerous driving. But despite the charges and an extradition request by the UK, Sacoolas has refused to return, with POTUS Joe Biden and ex-president Donald Trump both declining to send her back. They have maintained that the US's rejection of the extradition request is "final".
Who is Anne Sacoolas?
Sacoolas, a mother of three and wife of CIA operative Jonathan Sacoola, was driving the SUV that was involved in the head collision Harry suffered. The 42-year-old has allegedly left the US base at RAF Croughtons now but latest updates reveal she was a CIA operative along with her husband. Despite international pressure, she has not returned to the UK since the US helped her flee the country following the incident.
Sacoolas left Britain on September 15, 2019, and Dunn's family was informed in a week, on September 23. On October 13, the family said that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) had shared with them how the US suspect does not have any diplomatic immunity. Currently subject to an Interpol Red Notice, Sacoolas will be arrested should she set foot outside the US. Despite appeals by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab, Washington refuses to extradite her. Ex POTUS Donald Trump had also tried to orchestrate a meeting between Sacoolas and Dunn's parents, but the latter's family refused to engage in the show.
Sacoolas' employment contradicts diplomatic immunity
Dunn's family has since also made a civil claim for damages against Sacoolas — her application to dismiss which is being heard at the Alexandria District Court in Virginia. Her lawyer claims that the accused was "employed by an intelligence agency in the US" at the time of Dunn's tragic crash, something that was "especially a factor" in her departure from the UK. But this new admission about her employment also contradicts the diplomatic immunity she was given. Under RAF Croughton agreements from 1995, anyone from the US working at the base as a part of the "administrative and technical staff" would have their immunity pre-waived from criminal jurisdiction.
A Foreign Office spokesperson has said in a statement: "The UK High Court has found that Anne Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity while in the country under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations." Sky News reports that the spokesman for the Dunns has also said: "Given the admission in open court by Mrs Sacoolas's counsel that she was employed by US intelligence services at the time of the crash, the UK authorities must now urgently reinvestigate whether she had diplomatic immunity. They have to investigate given that employees had their immunity pre-waived under the 1995 RAF Croughton legal agreement."
According to Sacoolas's lawyer, she had "fled" the UK out of "issues of security". He added that he cannot "completely candidly" discuss the reason behind its, saying: "I know the answer but I cannot disclose it." The lawyer also insists that while Sacoolas is "currently apologetic" and has "accepted responsibility for the accident", there's still "fear" that because of the "media attention, she would not have a fair trial". The case has been adjourned until February 17.