Harry Dunn’s family still have questions over fatal crash – but killer Anne Sacoolas has remained in the shadows
It was October 2019. I had been made aware of a terrible crash which had killed a young motorcyclist called Harry Dunn a few months earlier.
The tip-off was Harry’s family were sure the person responsible worked for the US secret services, and she had left the country.
I was even given a name: Anne Sacoolas.
It was an unusual name. That night I did a search, and to my surprise she appeared on Facebook.
What spy would be on social media, I thought?
I sent a polite message asking if I could have a chat with her about the incident in the UK.
The next morning, when I checked for messages, her profile had disappeared.
Sacoolas has always been publicity-shy, perhaps for good reason.
From Northamptonshire to the White House
Both she and her husband, Jonathan, were employed at RAF Croughton, a US intelligence base in Northamptonshire close to where the collision happened.
Sky sources confirmed in 2020 she was a former CIA officer and at Harry’s inquest she has been referred to as an “analyst for the US State Department”.
In the early days following his death, Harry’s family told me if she had stayed in the UK, they would simply have liked to talk to her, face to face, so that they could find out exactly what had happened.
They never realised they would have to fight for so long to bring her to justice, a fight that would take them from their home in the Northamptonshire countryside to the White House, and to a meeting with former president Donald Trump.
Sacoolas remained in the shadows during that meeting too, apparently willing to see them in an adjoining room. But Harry’s family said no, they would only meet her in the UK.
They wanted her before a British court.
Three years later they achieved their goal, they finally got to see her on a video link from the US, but she never returned to the UK.
Help has not been extended to the family
Sky News tracked her down after her sentencing, and there was none of the remorse she told the court she had.
When asked if she had any words for Harry’s family she simply replied: “Have a nice day.”
His family feel that for five years they have been treated with disdain by her, and the US government.
They had hoped Harry’s inquest would be different.
The coroner offered Sacoolas the option of giving her evidence “live” from the US again – but a few days ago Harry’s family were told she would only provide written statements.
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Tap here
What the family heard in those statements was nothing new.
It was galling for Harry’s mum Charlotte, who thought she would finally have all the detail surrounding what happened that night.
Sacoolas told Harry, as he lay dying, she was sorry and would get him help.
That help has never extended to his family.