British officials have formally demanded that the wife of a US intelligence officer charged with causing the death by dangerous driving of the 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn be sent back to the UK to face trial.
The Home Office has sent a request to the US government to extradite Anne Sacoolas, who has previously insisted she will not return to the UK voluntarily, over the case of the teenager who died in a collision outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August last year.
A spokesman for the department confirmed the move on Friday evening, adding: “This is now a decision for the US authorities.”
However, the US state department called the request “highly inappropriate”. A department spokesman said: “The use of an extradition treaty to attempt to return the spouse of a former diplomat by force would establish an extraordinarily troubling precedent.”
A spokesman for Dunn’s family said that, while the move would not bring Dunn back, his relatives were nevertheless pleased at the extradition request and hailed it as a “huge step towards achieving justice for Harry and making good on the promise that they made to him on the night he died that they would secure justice for him”.
The family’s spokesman, Radd Seiger, said: “Despite the unwelcome public comments currently emanating from the US administration that Anne Sacoolas will never be returned, Harry’s parents – as victims – will simply look forward to the legal process unfolding, as it must now do, confident in the knowledge that the rule of law will be upheld.
“They will simply take things one step at a time and not get ahead of themselves. However, no one, whether diplomat or otherwise, is above the law.”
In a separate interview with the BBC, Seiger said he was “100%” sure Sacoolas would return to the UK. “There is no doubt in my mind and … there never has been. Whether it’s today, or tomorrow, or in five years’ time or in 10 years, Anne Sacoolas will come back, she has to come back.”
Dunn died after his motorbike collided with a car outside the RAF base. The 42-year-old suspect claimed diplomatic immunity after the incident and was able to return to her home country, sparking an international controversy.
Dunn’s family have initiated various legal proceedings against the Foreign Office, the US government and Sacoolas herself after their lawyers disputed the granting of diplomatic immunity.
Under the treaty that exists between the two nations, the UK government is responsible for considering and forwarding extradition requests to the US state department once they have been certified by a judge.
State department officials are responsible for determining whether or not they believe the request to be “in proper order”, before it is handed over to the department of justice and the US courts. The ultimate decision on whether someone is extradited lies with the US secretary of state.
