Anne Sacoolas has been sentenced today, for the killing of Harry Dunn in 2019, to eight months in prison suspended for 12 months.
Harry Dunn was killed in 2019 when he was riding his motorcycle near the RAF Croughton base. Sacoolas was leaving the base, and was driving on the wrong side of the road when she collided with Mr. Dunn.
Mr. Dunn was airlifted to hospital where he eventually died from his injuries. Sacoolas, meanwhile, was granted diplomatic immunity in the US as a result of the position of her husband in a US intelligence agency.
Sacoolas admitted in a plea hearing at the end of October responsibility for the death of Harry Dunn.
Sentencing was originally set for November, but was finalised today (8 December 2022) at the Old Bailey in London and, like the plea hearing, Sacoolas was present only via video link. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said there was "little reason" for Sacoolas to not attend court physically.
Sky News reports that Justice Cheema-Grubb said: "At no point in these proceedings had it been suggested that you were not free and able to travel to this jurisdiction in person. Once you had pleaded guilty and are therefore a convicted offender, there could be little reason in a case where a young man had met his death for you to not be required to attend at court for sentence.”
On the day of the sentencing, the court heard a statement from Harry Dunn’s mother, who said “His passing haunts me every minute of every day and I'm not sure how I'm ever going to get over it.” It also heard that Sacoolas had driven for 350m on the side of the road before her collision with Mr. Dunn, while Sacoolas herself told the court that “there is not a single day that Harry is not on my mind.”
Sacoolas was given a 12-month suspended sentence of eight months in prison, and was disqualified from driving for 12 months. Even still, Sky News reports that there is no possibility of the sentence being enforced because it would require Sacoolas to be in the UK, which the US government will not allow.
