Joe Biden "moving things along" as Harry Dunn's parents seek justice

Published date22 September 2021
Publication titleWalesOnline (Wales)
During his first visit to the White House as Prime Minister, Mr Johnson said: “I know that the president has been personally trying to move things along, and I’m grateful for that.”

The two leaders met on the day the parents of 19-year-old Harry, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, reached a “resolution” in their civil claim in the US against Ms Sacoolas for damages.

Sat next to Mr Johnson in the Oval Office, the US president told reporters: “That case is being worked on. I was under the impression there had been a civil settlement reached, but I don’t know that.

"Based on what I’ve been told it was not an intentional act. It was someone who’s new… driving down the wrong side of the road, quote unquote. But I will follow up on that.”

Harry’s mother had previously expressed hope that Mr Biden would be sympathetic to her family’s plight due to his personal connection to such a case.

Mr Biden lost his wife and daughter in a road collision in 1972, while his sons Beau and Hunter survived.

The Prime Minister also described the US leader as “extremely sympathetic” with the Dunn case following their meeting in Cornwall for the G7 earlier this year.

Radd Seiger, the spokesman for Ms Charles and Harry’s father Tim Dunn, told the PA news agency earlier on Tuesday that an agreement had been “reached successfully between the parties and they can put this part of the campaign behind them”.

Ms Sacoolas, who is charged with causing 19-year-old Mr Dunn’s death by dangerous driving, was due to give evidence under oath last month as part of the damages claim until a last-minute postponement.

The 44-year-old was able to leave the UK following the fatal road crash outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27 2019, after diplomatic immunity was asserted on her behalf by the US Government.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has also told reporters an agreement in the damages claim was “absolutely not” the end of the matter.

Speaking on the train to Washington where she will meet with Joe Biden, Ms Truss was asked if the resolution of a civil case in the UK was the end of the road for the British effort for Ms Sacoolas’s return.

“Absolutely not. We continue to press for justice for Harry,” she said.

The details of the agreement have not been disclosed, but Mr Seiger said a resolution in the civil claim means Harry’s parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, will now turn their focus to the pending criminal case.

He told PA: “It has come as some considerable relief to them that a...

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