Harry Dunn's mother calls on UK to stand up to US

'The US shouldn't control our county': Charlotte Charles calls on the government to be 'forceful'


The mother of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn has told the UK to stand up to America, ahead during the US Secretary of State’s visit next week.

"I feel that Donald Trump is ruling both countries," said Charlotte Charles.

"What has it come to for us to feel like that?

"Put it right, sort it out."

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

Anne Sacoolas, 43, the wife of a US intelligence official and a reported CIA operative, claimed diplomatic immunity following the crash and was able to return to her home country, sparking an international controversy.

An extradition request submitted by the Home Office for her was rejected by Mike Pompeo in January – a decision the State Department has said is “final”.

Harry Dunn Credit: Family Handout/PA

Ahead of Mr Pompeo's visit on Monday, Ms Charles is urging Boris Johnson, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to discuss the case of her son with him.

She added that the US should not "be scared" to send Ms Sacoolas to the UK - a move she acknowledged would be "unprecedented" due to the diplomatic immunity.

"We want the UK to be strong, we want them to stand up for our rights," she said.

"We want them to prove to the rest of the UK citizens that should they ever need the UK government's help that they are going to be there for them.

"Because so far, with our campaign, they've shown the complete opposite."

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said plans to return Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to prison in Iran are ‘unacceptable’ Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Mr Raab says Ms Sacoolas should return to the UK so that “justice can be done”. He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge programme: “We’re on the family’s side, we’ve made that clear all along. “There’s a denial of justice here, there is an extradition request that is outstanding and we have called on Anne Sacoolas to return and our American partners to facilitate that, we’ve done that consistently throughout.” Mr Raab added: “There’s no measures that I think we could credibly, realistically take which is somehow going to force the US or indeed Anne Sacoolas to comply with this. “But I want to be realistic because I don’t want to raise expectations that are going to be dashed but we have at every level raised this. “I’ve raised it, we’ve raised it in Washington, the Prime Minister has raised it with President Trump and we will continue to make clear we’re on the side of the family here, we think that she should return, she must return home, so that justice can be done.”