Explainer-in-brief: Calling time on the case of Harry Dunn
Bringing a seemingly never-ending story to its final act, yesterday Anne Sacoolas pleaded guilty to causing the death of Harry Dunn by careless driving in 2019. She appeared via video to her trial at the Old Bailey, finally admitting what had happened.
The British teenager died after a collision with Sacoolas’ car outside of a US military base in Northamptonshire.
Sacoolas, the wife of an American diplomat, knocked Harry Dunn, who was only nineteen years old, off his motorcycle after driving on the wrong side of the road. Because she had diplomatic immunity, she left the UK soon afterward causing a lengthy diplomatic row between the two countries.
Harry Dunn’s mother said that his family is “happy with accountability”, after years of campaigning to bring Sacoolas to justice. The American forty-five-year-old will be sentenced at the end of November. Death by careless driving carries a maximum sentence of five years.