Harry Dunn crash: UK requests extradition of US diplomat's wife over crash which killed British teenager

Request comes after Anne Sacoolas was charged with causing death by dangerous driving in December

Home secretary Priti Patel has filed a formal request with the US government for the extradition of an American diplomat’s wife who was involved in a car crash which killed a British teenager.

Anne Sacoolas was charged with causing death by dangerous driving last month after Harry Dunn, 19, was knocked off his motorbike and killed outside an RAF base in Northamptonshire in August.

A government spokesperson said: “Following the Crown Prosecution Service’s charging decision, the Home Office has sent an extradition request to the United States for Anne Sacoolas on charges of causing death by dangerous driving. This is now a decision for the US authorities.”

Ms Sacoolas, 42, claimed diplomatic immunity and returned to the US after the crash which killed Dunn outside RAF Croughton on 27 August. But the UK Foreign Office later said her husband was not a consular official whose role allowed family members immunity from prosecution.

Radd Seiger, a spokesman for Dunn’s parents, said on Friday night: “I have learned that the extradition request for Anne Sacoolas has been delivered today to the United States Department of Justice in accordance with the requirements laid out in the treaty between the two countries and I have notified the parents.

“This will not of course bring Harry back, but in the circumstances of all that this family have been through, they are pleased with the development and feel that it is 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.”

Ms Sacoolas was allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road at the time of the crash which killed Dunn. Her lawyer has previously said she would not return voluntarily to Britain to possibly face jail for “a terrible but unintentional accident”.

Donald Trump’s administration has previously insisted an extradition request for Ms Sacoolas “would be highly inappropriate”.

The US state department expressed “disappointment” when Ms Sacoolas was charged and said it was “clear” that she “had status that conferred diplomatic immunities”.

Mr 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.”

In separate comments to the BBC, he said he was ”100 per cent” sure Ms Sacoolas would return to the UK. He added: “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.”

The extradition request came as it emerged business secretary Andrea Leadsom, who is the Dunn family’s local MP, has written to Boris Johnson to request he meet with the teenager’s parents.

The South Northamptonshire MP told the prime minister: ”I have met Harry’s parents a number of times and they are understandably finding it very difficult to start to grieve for their son fully until there is some closure in the case.”

She added: “Though they understand that you are of course extremely busy, a face-to-face meeting would go a long way to assure them that the case and their concerns are being taken seriously.”