Harry Dunn's killer Anne Sacoolas handed suspended sentence

Anne Sacoolas has been given a suspended sentence for the death of Harry Dunn.

The US citizen knocked the 19-year-old off his motorbike outside RAF Croughton in August 2019, telling police: "I’m American and I drove on the American side of the road."

The mother-of-three did not travel to the UK despite being urged by the judge to show "genuine remorse" and return to the UK for sentencing.

She pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving via a videolink from Washington DC in October and again joined the Old Bailey hearing remotely on Thursday, wearing an ivory-coloured jacket and grey t-shirt.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb sentenced Sacoolas to eight months’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, in recognition of the fact she was the mother to three children.

She told her: "Your behaviour on this occasion was not far short of very dangerous driving, that caused a death."

The 45-year-old fled from the country just days after the crash. The US government asserted diplomatic immunity on her behalf, allowing her to leave the country and initially avoid police action. She has not come back to the UK since.

Earlier in the sentencing hearing, Mr Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, had broken down in tears as she described how his death "haunts me every minute of every day and I’m not sure how I’m going to get over it".

She told the court that she also lost her other son - Mr Dunn’s twin, Niall - that night, as he had gone from being a "proud young man" to a "shell of himself".

"He is so sad and lost without Harry that I am petrified that he will do something terrible one day and that I will lose him too for good," she said.

Duncan Atkinson KC outlined the facts of the case to the court, saying that Sacoolas had been driving two of her children back from a barbecue at RAF Croughton when the crash happened.

CCTV on the base captured Sacoolas driving "immediately onto the wrong side of the road", the prosecutor said.

Footage from a camera across a field showed the headlights from Sacoolas’s Volvo and Mr Dunn’s motorbike heading towards each other, before there was an explosion as they met. Sacoolas had left the base just 23 seconds earlier.

As Mr Dunn lay dying, Jennifer Hewitt, the first witness, came across the scene on her way home.

Mr Atkinson told the court: "She saw the defendant standing at the side of the road with her two children.

"The defendant was disoriented, very distressed, and shocked, and said 'I’ve had a head on collision with a motorbike. It’s all my fault, I was on the wrong side of the road'.

"She added: 'I’ve only been here a couple of weeks'. Ms Hewitt then saw the body of Harry Dunn lying on the verge at the side of the road, near the Volvo.

"He was face down, but conscious. He repeatedly said: 'Don’t let me die'."

Mr Dunn was able to tell the Ministry of Defence police, who had arrived on the scene, that Sacoolas was driving on the wrong side of the road, the court heard.

'I drove on the American side of the road'

Sacoolas remained at the scene and was observed by Northamptonshire Police officers with her head in her hands, crying. She told them she had "made a mistake" and said "I was so stupid", the court head. Mr Dunn later died in hospital.

During a voluntary police interview in October 2019 after returning to the US, Sacoolas said she had driven fewer than five times on the road, claiming she told police after the crash: "I’m an American and I drove on the American side of the road."

Ben Cooper KC, in mitigation, read a statement from Sacoolas in which she said she was "deeply sorry for the pain I have caused".

The statement said her actions caused her "regret every single day", adding: "There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about Harry."