Harry Dunn's parents refuse to meet US diplomat's wife unless she agrees to stand trial in UK, welcome removal of immunity
Harry Dunn's parents have said they will only meet with the US diplomat's wife—who caused the teen's death in an alleged hit-and-run—only if she promised to return to the UK.
44-year-old Charlotte Charles and her husband Tim Dunn, 50, arrived in New York on Sunday for a potential meeting with their child's alleged killer Anne Sacoolas, The Sun reported.
After killing 19-year-old Harry while driving on the wrong side of the road outside an RAF base on August 27, Sacoolas claimed immunity and fled back to the US.
However, the UK's Foreign Office announced Sunday the 42-year-old no longer has diplomatic immunity as she absconded to the US.
Radd Seiger, a spokesman for the devastated family, said the parents will only meet Sacoolas if she gave her word she would return to Britain and face the consequences of her actions.
"It's important to make clear, it's all about her coming back," Seiger told Sky News. "For the family, the non-negotiable red line in the sand is that she must return to the UK and face the consequences and I'm awaiting a response to that. There's not much point in meeting and having pleasantries if that commitment isn't there."
Charlotte spoke to the BBC about the immunity "breakthrough."
“The letter from the FCO was amazing, we felt like we finally had a breakthrough," she told the outlet. “We finally had it confirmed that the immunity that we didn’t think she had has been confirmed, that she doesn’t have it, certainly since she absconded back to the USA.”
However, the heartbroken parents now hope to have a face-to-face meeting with Sacoolas, calling it a step "in the right direction."
19-year-old Harry Dunn died seven weeks ago when 42-year-old Sacoolas reportedly smashed into his motorbike while driving her Volvo on the wrong side of the road outside RAF Croughton, Northamptonshire.
In the wake of the fatal crash, she claimed immunity as her husband Jonathan worked in US intelligence on the airforce base.
Sacoolas broke her silence when it emerged that she no longer had this protection, offering to meet with Harry's family to "express her deepest sympathies and apologies".
Speaking to Sky News, Charlotte responded saying "sorry just doesn't cut it" and "that's not really quite enough".
"My opinion on Anne Sacoolas now wanting to come forward and say sorry - to be perfectly honest, yes it's the start of some closure for our family," the devastated mother told Sky News. "Having said that, as it's nearly seven weeks now since we lost our boy, sorry just doesn't cut it."