Harry Dunn death: Family encouraged after meeting Foreign Secretary

The family of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn said they have been given “hope” after meeting with the Foreign Secretary again to discuss the 19-year-old’s death.

Harry’s father Tim Dunn said their conversation with Dominic Raab at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London on Tuesday was more “open” and “friendly” than a meeting held in October.

“This meeting was a lot better. He was more engaging, he came across more honest,” Mr Dunn said.

Harry’s family had sought a further conversation with Mr Raab in a bid to reach “common ground” after being left disappointed by the earlier meeting.

In November, Harry’s father travelled to Mr Raab’s constituency in Esher and Walton to confront him over his handling of the case.

Harry Dunn was killed when his motorbike was involved in a head-on collision with a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27.

The suspect in the case, 42-year-old Anne Sacoolas, claimed diplomatic immunity after the crash and was able to return to the US.

Harry’s mother Charlotte Charles was not present on Tuesday after being left “utterly devastated” by watching footage of Mrs Sacoolas reversing out of her driveway in the state of Virginia.

A spokesman for the family, Radd Seiger, said the “warm” meeting with Mr Raab had covered a range of issues, with the two sides agreeing to “improve” communication.

Mr Seiger claimed the the Foreign Secretary wants Mrs Sacoolas to return from the US to the UK.

He said: “One of the things that came across loud and clear for us which hadn’t come across before is that both Andrea Leadsom (the MP for Northamptonshire South) and the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab would like this lady to come back too, and that’s not something that we had heard.”

Mr Seiger added: “He shared with us that he needs to be very careful with his words and what he says, he doesn’t want to get hopes up.

“But he assured us that he’s doing absolutely everything he can to give this family the justice that they need and deserve.”

A file of evidence was handed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on November 1 after Northamptonshire Police interviewed Mrs Sacoolas in the US.

Mr Dunn urged the CPS to reach a decision on whether to charge Mrs Sacoolas to help give his family “closure … for grieving”.

Asked if Mr Raab had commented on Mrs Sacoolas returning to the UK, Mr Seiger said: “He was quite honest about it, he said that it’s not really up to him, it’s up to the police and the CPS, and still to this day we are scratching our heads as to why the Crown Prosecution Service have not authorised the charge.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Harry’s family sat down with Northamptonshire Police Chief Constable Nick Adderley for “positive” clear-the-air talks after the family originally called for the police chief to resign.

It was revealed Mr Adderley sent a written apology to the family for a “breakdown” in communications.

He promised the 19-year-old’s parents that he will work “tirelessly” to bring the US suspect back to the UK.

Mr Adderley told reporters that any perceived fallout had been a “total misunderstanding” – adding that certain tweets and conversations had been “completely misconstrued”.

Mr Dunn added: “These two meetings today have given us hope and I just plead now for the CPS to please hurry up and make this charge, and then we can move on.”