The State Department did not treat the case of an American woman who fled the country claiming diplomatic immunity after the death of a British teenager in a road accident as a crisis, an independent review has concluded.
The government has been told that there were “failures and lapses” in handling matters after Harry Dunn’s death and missed opportunities to infiltrate the US.
David Lammy, when he was foreign secretary in July, launched an inquiry into the handling of the case of then-suspect Ann Sakulas.
Senior British officials have told the US government they should “feel free” to take Sakulas on the next flight home after the fatal crash.
Harry, 19, was killed in August 2019 when a car driven by Sakulas collided with his motorbike near the exit of RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire. He was driving on the wrong side of the road.
Sakulas, who was the wife of a CIA agent who worked near the air base, claimed diplomatic immunity under a then-unknown legal loophole for most of the politicians and police officers who first questioned her.
Dame Anne Owers, the former chief inspector of prisons, who carried out the review, cited “failures and failings” in the department’s handling of the case in her report, including a failure to recognize families as allies in achieving justice.
Dame Ann is understood to have told the Dunn family it was her “strong view” that then Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab should have been involved “much earlier in the process” after her private office was copied on a memo three days after the crash, expressing fears of “potentially unpleasant headlines”.
He recommends that in future deaths that occur under exceptional circumstances such as diplomatic immunity be given an “immediate resource boost”, with early escalation mandatory for ministers and senior officials.
His report makes 12 recommendations that focus on improving the government’s response to deaths and serious incidents and support for families and victims.
The US government at the time was considered to be exploiting a loophole in the immunity agreement at RAF Croughton Air Base, which granted immunity to dependents of administrative and technical staff but not the staff themselves.
“From the documents I have seen, there is no doubt that those directly involved hoped and expected that the United States would, as one put it, ‘do the right thing,’ regardless of any other considerations,” Diem Ann’s report said.
“But there was a significant delay in recognizing that this should be a priority across the department, and in raising it to a sufficiently senior level.”
Sakulas eventually pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving via video link at the Old Bailey in December 2022 and was later sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for 12 months.
Responding to the review, Charlotte Charles, Mr Dunn’s mother, said: “The report confirms what we have lived with every day for over six years – mistakes were made, opportunities were missed and our family was not treated with the honesty or urgency that any parent deserves.”
The results of this report will be presented to the parliament. The government says it has fully accepted all of the report’s recommendations, 10 of which relate to the Foreign Office, one to the Ministry of Justice and one to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “We are committed to learning from this tragedy, particularly around victim support, and ensuring that no family facing such a crisis has to struggle to get the support they deserve.”
Dame Ann said she found that a more positive government approach later helped build relationships with families and achieve significant change.
As of 2019, the government has prohibited US citizens from claiming immunity from criminal prosecution.
