Diplomat’s wife Anne Sacoolas kills British teen & flees to US to avoid charges

[Novice]

To add insult to injury, her two kids go to the school where this boy’s father is the janitor.



Harry Dunn crash: Suspect who claimed immunity named as diplomat’s wife Anne Sacoolas

She left for United States before police could lay charge of dangerous driving causing death of 19-year-old motorcyclist







The diplomat’s wife suspected of fatally hitting a British teen and returning to the United States without facing charges has been revealed as Anne Sacoolas.
The 42-year-old, whose identity was revealed by Sky News, is believed to have left the UK before she could be charged with causing the death of Harry Dunn.
The 19-year-old died after his motorbike collided with a car, driving on the wrong side of the road, as it left a US intelligence base, the RAF Croughton, in Northamptonshire, on 27 August.


The woman thought to be behind the wheel was identified in the media as the wife of a US diplomat, before her identity was revealed this week.
Ms Sacoolas is now thought to be back in the United States after she invoked a special deal that saw her able to claim immunity, when it became clear charges would be laid.


Typically diplomatic immunity covers only diplomats and their dependents based in London.
However, Sky News revealed the special arrangement saw immunity apply to those diplomats and their families based at the intelligence centre in Northamptonshire.
His family is now appealing for the woman to return to face investigation, after it was revealed she left the country when it became clear she would be facing criminal charges.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, said: “The police have the CCTV footage showing that she pulled out of the RAF base on to the wrong side of the road. Harry had no chance.
“She travelled on 350 to 400 yards on the wrong side of the road. It was a head-on collision – we later lost him in hospital.”
Ms Charles said the family did not know how to start grieving properly without justice being served.

“Everyone loved him, we’re utterly broken inside and out, everything hurts day and night, it’s an effort to do anything, I ache from it, every limb, every internal organ hurts.


A crowd-funding campaign, “Justice4Harry” has so far raised more than £5,000 to help the family.
Meanwhile, police chiefs have written to the US embassy in London to demand immunity is waived.
Nick Adderley, chief constable for Northamptonshire Police, said US authorities had been appealed to in “the strongest terms” to apply a waiver and “allow the justice process to take place”.
When asked whether the UK wants the US to hand over the diplomat’s wife, prime minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said: “The details of this case are extremely concerning and the foreign secretary has discussed it with the US ambassador.
"The justice process should be allowed to take place and we urge the US to reconsider their decision. The prime minister offers his condolences to the Dunn family. This was a tragic set of events which no family should have to experience.”
A US Embassy spokesman has said questions over any waiver of immunity in the case of the wife of a US diplomat who left the UK after becoming a suspect in a fatal road crash would be “considered carefully”.
The embassy spokesman said: “We express our deepest sympathies and offer condolences to the family of the deceased in this tragic traffic accident.
“Any questions regarding a waiver of the immunity with regard to our diplomats and their family members overseas in a case like this receive intense attention at senior levels and are considered carefully ... immunity is rarely waived.
“The US Embassy has been and will continue to be in close contact with appropriate British officials.”
Additional reporting by PA

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...45686.html?amp


Anne Sacoolas: Parents of teen killed in crash don't want US diplomat's wife punished

Anne Sacoolas claimed immunity and returned to the US after Harry Dunn died in a collision in Northamptonshire.


By Alix Culbertson, News reporter @alixculbertson
Monday 7 October 2019 11:16, UK


The parents of a British teenager killed in a car crash which is thought to have involved an American diplomat's wife said they do not want her to be punished after she left the country.
Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn told Sky News they want Anne Sacoolas to come back to the UK to face them after their son, Harry Dunn, 19, died in hospital following a head-on collision with a car while riding his motorbike.
Police believe Mrs Sacoolas, 42, pulled out on to the wrong side of the road as she emerged from Northamptonshire's RAF Croughton on 27 August.
Sky News named the diplomat's wife on Sunday after earlier revealing a deal gives diplomats and their families at the US spy base diplomatic immunity, despite only London-based US diplomats and their dependents usually being covered.
Image:Harry Dunn. Pic: Facebook

Harry's parents have criticised Mrs Sacoolas for leaving the country and today told Sky News they do not "necessarily" want her to be punished.


Mrs Charles said: "Come home, come back to the UK. We're not a horrible family, we're a usual UK family that just need to put a face to what we have now is a name.
"Talk to her, find out how she's feeling. She's got to be suffering as well, she's a mum.

"Without knowing who this person is properly we can't begin to try and start our grieving process.
"We just don't understand from one human to another, one mum to another, how you could just get on a plane and leave behind the devastation she has without even speaking to us, without an apology of any kind?"


She appealed for Boris Johnson to use the UK's "special relationship" with the US to "its full potential" to get Mrs Sacoolas to return to the UK.
The parents said their MP, Andrea Leadsom, has told them she will fight for them to get justice, while Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has also been helpful.
"If it comes to it we will go to Washington," she said.
"But we don't want it to come to that. We don't see why it should come to that.
"We're not out to keep fighting, we just want to sit and talk with her."
Image:A letter sent to the family from the US ambassador following Harry's death
Mr Dunn said they were struggling to understand how Mrs Sacoolas was given diplomatic immunity and how she could leave the country.
He said: "She was compliant with the police, she admitted at the time she was in the wrong.
"We know from the police she was going to stay in the country, she was permitted to stay here for three years.
"And then we didn't think this would be what is happening, so to hear the news a few weeks after the funeral was devastating."
Mrs Charles said the family are "not coping" and just trying to get through each hour of every day after the death of the son they said kept the family together after she and Mr Dunn split up when Harry was young.
She said: "Harry always fought for what he thought was right. We're honouring him by doing this. We just have to keep going to try to get some closure.
"All we need to do is to meet her, all we need to do is ask her to come back. It's not much to ask. She's left a family in complete ruin. We're broken.
"Many of us, not just direct parents, siblings, grandparents, aunties, uncles, nieces - it's everything.
"We're all broken and we're just utterly shocked and appalled that somebody is allowed to get on a plane and go home and avoid our justice system."

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/anne-...ished-11829884

[Sarzy]

Coward!

[Beeyotch]

Do diplomats really have immunity where murder or manslaughter is involved? I thought that was just in the movies.

[Novice]

And institutional cowardice if the reports are correct and she has a history of bad driving.


1. Anne Sacoolas — Who Struck Harry Dunn With Her Car While on the Wrong Side of the Road — Was Encouraged to Leave Britain by Someone on the American Side, Sky News Reports

Harry Dunn.

Anne Elizabeth Sacoolas struck and killed 19-year-old Harry Dunn with her Volvo XC90 while driving the wrong way on August 27, police said. The crash occurred near the Air Force base. Dunn was riding a Kawasaki motorcycle


According to The Telegraph, Sacoolas’ 12-year-old son was in the front seat of her car at the time of the crash. The newspaper reports that Sacoolas admitted liability after getting out of her car. But when police went to her home at the Croughton base and told her Dunn had died, lawyers and U.S. Embassy officials stepped in.
Northamptonshire Police Superintendent Sarah Johnson said in a statement, “We can confirm that a 42-year-old American woman being treated as a suspect in our investigation into a fatal road traffic collision on the B4031 Park End, Croughton, on Tuesday, August 27, has left the country.”
Johnson added, “Northamptonshire Police followed all of its usual procedures following the incident, including liaising closely with the suspect, who engaged fully with us at the time and had previously confirmed to us that she had no plans to leave the country in the near future. Due process was also followed in seeking the necessary documentation to allow for the arrest and formal interview of the suspect, and the Force is now exploring all opportunities through diplomatic channels to ensure that the investigation continues to progress.”
According to Sky News, someone on the American side told Sacoolas to leave Britain. In a statement, the U.S. State Department declined to name Sacoolas and her husband, citing security and privacy considerations.
“We express our deepest sympathies and offer condolences to the family of the deceased in the tragic Aug. 27 traffic accident involving a vehicle driven by the spouse of a U.S. diplomat assigned to the United Kingdom. We can confirm the family has left the U.K.,” the State Department said. .




In 2006, Sacoolas was cited in Fairfax County, Virginia, for failure to pay full time and attention, a traffic ticket. She does not appear to have any other offenses on her record. She paid a fine on that infraction in 2007.
Public records show that Sacoolas and her husband are both Republicans.

---

3. Sacoolas — Born Anne Goodwin in South Carolina — Is Herself a Former State Department Employee Who Has a Psychology Degree




The statement added, “Any questions regarding a waiver of immunity with regard to our diplomats and their family members overseas in a case like this receive careful attention at senior levels are considered carefully given the global impact such decisions carry; immunity is rarely waived.”
Northamptonshire Police said in a statement, “We are also working closely with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in an effort to come to a resolution regarding this matter. Harry Dunn’s family deserve justice and in order to achieve this, a full and thorough investigation, with the assistance of all parties involved, needs to take place.“Northamptonshire Police is committed to ensuring justice for Harry and specially trained officers continue to support the Dunn family in their loss, including keeping them fully informed of all developments in the investigation.”

---

2. She & Her Husband Have 2 Young Children & Own a Home in Virginia & She Was Ticketed in Her Home State for Failing to ‘Pay Full Time & Attention’


2. She & Her Husband Have 2 Young Children & Own a Home in Virginia & She Was Ticketed in Her Home State for Failing to ‘Pay Full Time & Attention’

Anne Sacoolas and her husband, Jonathan Sacoolas, 43, have been married since 2003. They have two young children, both sons, according to her Pinterest profile. It is not clear what job Jonathan Sacoolas currently has within the U.S. government.
The couple owns a home in Fairfax County, Virginia, according to a home sales list from The Washington Post. They purchased the house in the Vienna area in 2015 for $770,000.


In 2006, Sacoolas was cited in Fairfax County, Virginia, for failure to pay full time and attention, a traffic ticket. She does not appear to have any other offenses on her record. She paid a fine on that infraction in 2007.
Public records show that Sacoolas and her husband are both Republicans

https://heavy.com/news/2019/10/anne-sacoolas/amp/
In 2006, Sacoolas was cited in Fairfax County, Virginia, for failure to pay full time and attention, a traffic ticket. She does not appear to have any other offenses on her record. She paid a fine on that infraction in 2007.
Public records show that Sacoolas and her husband are both Republicans

[sputnik]

diplomatic immunity is complicated and most people don’t understand how it works, and luckily never have to because for the most part diplomats stay out of trouble. What most people forget is that diplomatic relations are based on reciprocity, the rules are pretty clearly set out in the Vienna convention which forms the legal basis for diplomatic immunity and that the same rules would apply if this were a British diplomat in the US.
the other thing is, it probably wasn’t her choice to leave, it’s quite likely the US embassy insisted she leave the country ASAP and prefers to deal with this with the woman back in the US. If the US didn’t want her to go anywhere they would have cancelled her diplomatic passport.

[Novice]

Do diplomats really have immunity where murder or manslaughter is involved? I thought that was just in the movies.

Nope not just in the movies although countries can remove the immunity so that the perp faces court in the foreign country. Not that the US does this, not even paying their parking tickets...

How does diplomatic immunity work?


Spotlight on protection for foreign diplomats after death of Harry Dunn in accident involving a US diplomat’s wife

Owen Bowcott Legal affairs correspondent

@owenbowcottMon 7 Oct 2019 06.51 EDT

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The death of a teenager, Harry Dunn, in a Northamptonshire road traffic accident in August involving Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomat, has focused attention on the peculiar legal status of diplomatic immunity.
What is diplomatic immunity?

It is the protection given under international and UK law to foreign diplomats and their families. It was formalised through the 1961 Vienna convention on diplomatic relations (VCDR) which was incorporated into domestic law by the 1964 Diplomatic Privileges Act. The reciprocal global agreements also protect UK diplomats working abroad.
How far does it extend?

As well as covering diplomats and their families anywhere in the UK, the same convention and legislation prevents UK officials from entering diplomatic premises. That inviolability enabled Julian Assange to stay in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years. (His stay was not the longest: a Hungarian archbishop spent 15 years sheltering inside the US embassy in Budapest.)
Can it be cancelled?

Without a foreign state agreeing to lift immunity, diplomats and their dependent families can only be detained “as a last resort” if, for example, they are deemed to be a danger to others or themselves. The only other sanction available to the Foreign Office would be to order their expulsion.
Does it apply to diplomats outside London?

According to the Crown Prosecution Service, the immunity does not apply to dependants of consular officials based outside London. However, it is understood that some diplomatic staff and their spouses located outside the capital can get that immunity.
What is a waiver?

When a foreign state agrees to remove that legal protection, it is known as a “waiver of immunity”. Individual diplomats cannot do so; the embassy of the foreign state has to make a formal request.
Do resident diplomats have to obey the law?

Diplomats are supposed to behave responsibly. The Vienna convention states: “Without prejudice to their privileges and immunities, it is the duty of all persons enjoying such privileges and immunities to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving state. They also have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that state.”
What is America’s approach to lifting immunity?

A US embassy spokesperson has said: “Immunity is rarely waived.” A parliamentary question in 2016 revealed a table of embassies that had incurred the largest debts through ignoring the London congestion charge. US diplomats were the No 1 offenders by a long distance, with 89,308 unpaid fines totalling £10,626,970. Japan came second with 59,533 unpaid fines amounting to a denied liability of £7,072,020.

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics...-immunity-work

[sputnik]

Re: the London congestion charge, the US is notorious for not paying that. I didn’t know about japan but it doesn’t surprise me. A lot of countries have a policy of making their diplomats pay parking tickets and any such related traffic fines, even if legally they don’t have to.

[yanna]

If she couldn't remember which side of the road to drive on maybe she shouldn't have been driving.

[Beeyotch]

Yeah I agree, but she sucks at driving in the U.S., it's not just forgetting to drive on the opposite side. She shouldn't drive anywhere, ever. But then again, Rebecca Gayheart is still driving I bet. I guess at least she faced the justice system.

[Novice]

Re: the London congestion charge, the US is notorious for not paying that. I didn’t know about japan but it doesn’t surprise me. A lot of countries have a policy of making their diplomats pay parking tickets and any such related traffic fines, even if legally they don’t have to.

Full list here:- https://www.hippoleasing.co.uk/news/...parking-fines/
but it comes to

£111,402,154.

No word of what the UK owes around the world.

[sputnik]

lol i just had a fun time googling which countries have unpaid fines in the US, including one headline about 'deadbeat diplomats' in new york.
for the record, back when i had immunity, i never abused it. it helps that i never had a car but i also never killed anyone

https://gothamist.com/news/map-shows...tickets-in-nyc

[twitchy2.0]

yet

[yanna]

To be fair, though, I do understand the confusion if you haven't been in the country for long. I almost died in France. I'd been in the UK for about a month and finally learnt where to look and just as I got used to it we went for short visit to France and nearly got ran over cause I looked at the wrong side. Also when I was little my mother nearly had a full on collision with another car in Cyprus. She'd been driving there for a while but after a visit to Greece she forgot they were driving on the left in Cyprus. She was lucky the other guy was going slow

[lindsaywhit]

Yeah, driving on the wrong side of the road is very easy to do when you switch between left and right side countries. Oddly enough, I think out of pure terror I never drove on the wrong side while in Hong Kong... I reserved that for when I came back to the States for vacations or eventually to live - mostly when I turned left in a parking lot, or a quiet street, and then stayed on the left side of the road for 2 or 3 seconds while my kids screeched, "Mom. Mom! MOM!!!!" Terrifying. (shudders)

[MohandasKGanja]

To be fair, though, I do understand the confusion if you haven't been in the country for long. I almost died in France. I'd been in the UK for about a month and finally learnt where to look and just as I got used to it we went for short visit to France and nearly got ran over cause I looked at the wrong side. Also when I was little my mother nearly had a full on collision with another car in Cyprus. She'd been driving there for a while but after a visit to Greece she forgot they were driving on the left in Cyprus. She was lucky the other guy was going slow

lol i just had a fun time googling which countries have unpaid fines in the US, including one headline about 'deadbeat diplomats' in new york.
for the record, back when i had immunity, i never abused it. it helps that i never had a car but i also never killed anyone

https://gothamist.com/news/map-shows...tickets-in-nyc

If she couldn't remember which side of the road to drive on maybe she shouldn't have been driving.

This is why I almost never rent cars in foreign countries. Many countries have great mass transit, and it's less of a headache (or chance for tragedy) to let a native do the driving. London, Paris, Rome, Sydney, Melbourne, Thailand -- somebody else was doing the driving. When we were in St. Martin, though, we rented a car both times -- they do have scary winding roads, though.

Related to what Yanna said, when we were in Europe, I think my biggest fear is that one of my kids would step off a curb while looking in the wrong direction. Especially because the traffic pattern in Italy is like the US (if I remember correctly) but is the opposite in Paris and London. The scariest place to be a pedestrian was Paris because pedestrians were taking their lives in their hands and bus drivers there don't give an inch. I almost saw 4 teenage girls get wiped out by a bus -- missed them by inches.