Harry Dunn’s parents lose High Court battle against Foreign Office in diplomatic immunity row

HARRY Dunn’s parents today vowed to keep fighting for justice after losing their High Court battle against the Foreign Office over whether their son's alleged killer had diplomatic immunity.

Harry, 19, was killed when his motorbike was hit by a car driving on the wrong side of the road near RAF Croughton, Northants, on August 27 last year.

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The alleged driver, Anne Sacoolas, then fled to the US - citing diplomatic immunity.

She had been in the UK while her husband Jonathan worked at the RAF base as a technical assistant.

The 43-year-old was ultimately charged with causing death by dangerous driving last December, but an extradition request was rejected by the US State Department in January - a decision it later described as "final".

Mr Dunn's parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, then claimed the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) wrongly decided Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity.

They also claimed the office had unlawfully obstructed Northamptonshire Police's investigation into their son's death by keeping the force "in the dark".

But, in a High Court judgment delivered on Tuesday, Lord Justice Flaux and Mr Justice Saini said: "Our conclusion is that Mrs Sacoolas enjoyed immunity from UK criminal jurisdiction at the time of Harry's death."

They found Ms Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity "on arrival in the UK" which had not been "expressly waived", meaning she "had immunity at the time of Harry's death".

Reacting to the decision, Harry's mum Charlotte said: "The governments and Mrs Sacoolas need to understand that this Court ruling is just a blip along the way, I promised my boy I would get him justice and this is just what Team Harry are going to do.

"No one is going to stand in our way."

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She said it was "disappointing" the courts had not ruled in their favour but said they were "more focused than ever" on getting justice for their son.

Charlotte added: "Mr Biden will soon be in power and we are all hoping that he will put an end to all this for us."

Dad Mr Dunn said: "I still wake up every morning in absolute disbelief that we are in this situation at all.

"It's bad enough feeling the horrible pain of not having Harry around and missing him, but I can't believe the governments are putting us through this.

"It all seems so cruel and needless and I am just as angry today as I ever have been but so determined to see it all through until we have justice."

And the spokesman for the family said they would be appealing the High Court judgment.

Radd Seiger said they are appealing to the Court of Appeal on "strong legal advice" and are ";confident that the ruling will ultimately be overturned in the senior courts".

At a hearing earlier this month, the parents' lawyers said the FCDO "took upon itself the authority to resolve the question of immunity and ultimately and unlawfully decided to accept the US embassy's decision that Anne Sacoolas had immunity".

The Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, said: “My thoughts today are with Harry’s family.

"While this judgment makes clear the Foreign Office acted properly and lawfully throughout, I appreciate that won’t provide any solace to the family in their search for justice.

"We stand with them, we’re clear that Anne Sacoolas needs to face justice in the UK, and we will support the family with their legal claim in the US.”

Downing Street said Harry Dunn's family would not face "high costs" from their legal case.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "My understanding is that parties have reached an agreement under which Harry's family will be protected from paying high costs to the Government in respect of the High Court proceedings."

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Sir James Eadie QC, for the FCDO, said: "As a matter of international and domestic law, Mrs Sacoolas automatically had diplomatic immunity as the spouse of a member of the administrative and technical staff of the US mission."

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He added that the US "expressly waived the immunity from the UK's criminal jurisdiction of 'employees' or 'staff members'", but "at no point is there a waiver of the immunity enjoyed by the families of such individuals".

Mrs Charles and Mr Dunn initially also took legal action against Northamptonshire Police but that claim was dropped in July, with the family's spokesman saying the force had been "absolved of any blame".

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