Harry Dunn's mother urges UK to stand up to 'bully' US as diplomatic tensions flare

Harry Dunn died on August 27 last year Credit: Family handout/PA

The mother of Northamptonshire teenager Harry Dunn has urged the UK to stand up to the "bully" US government as diplomatic tensions reportedly flared up between the two countries.

Charlotte Charles said the UK was "on the road to ruin" if officials did not stand firm in the latest diplomatic row with the American government over Anne Sacoolas, the American woman charged over 19-year-old Harry’s death last year.

Washington officials were said to be“furious” to learn UK police had put an international wanted notice out for Mrs Sacoolas, the Mail on Sunday reported.

Mr Dunn was killed when his motorbike collided with a car outside a US military base in Northamptonshire on August 27 last year.

Mrs Sacoolas, 42, the wife of a US intelligence official based at RAF Croughton, claimed diplomatic immunity after the crash and was able to return to her home country.

She was charged with causing death by dangerous driving in December, but an extradition request submitted by the Home Office was rejected by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in January, a decision the State Department has since described as “final”.

Charlotte Charles urges the UK to stand up to the US over her son's death. Credit: PA

Ms Charles said: “We don’t want any problems with the US Government. But we can see that the US Government is behaving like a bully.

“It will be a road to ruin if we back down as a country now and we have to stand up to them.

“I agree with calls that no-one should be extradited until the US Government agrees to play by the rules, starting with sending Anne Sacoolas back.

“She did not have diplomatic immunity.”

Dominic Raab (back left) and Boris Johnson were reportedly in crisis talks after Trump administration officials reacted angrily to the Interpol notice Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA

The Mail says bilateral tensions have erupted after British police enacted an Interpol Red Diffusion Notice, which was sent to certain countries including Canada, seeking Sacoolas’s arrest if she left the United States.

Washington was reportedly not notified about the move in the hope Sacoolas would leave the country and be arrested.

US officials were said to have been furious on learning of the notice’s existence and confronted British counterparts, prompting crisis talks last Thursday involving Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, and Home Secretary Priti Patel.

The Mail said Northamptonshire Police are being blamed by the Government for news of the notice emerging.