US rejects British extradition request for diplomat’s wife wanted over deadly crash

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the decision was a ‘denial of justice’

The family of Harry Dunn, from left, mother Charlotte Charles, stepfather Bruce Charles, family spokesman Radd Seiger, father Tim Dunn and stepmother Tracey Dunn speak to the media outside the Ministry Of Justice in London, Friday, Dec. 20, 2019. British prosecutors have charged the wife of an American diplomat over the death of a teenage motorcyclist in a road accident. British police say Harry Dunn died when he was hit by a car driven by Anne Sacoolas, whose husband was stationed at a U.S. military base in England. Sacoolas claimed diplomatic immunity and left Britain after the crash. (David Mirzoeff/PA via AP)
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UK-US relations were under pressure on Friday after Washington rejected an extradition request of the wife of an American diplomat who was involved in a car crash that killed a British teenager last year.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he had called the US ambassador to London to express his disappointment and described it as a “denial of justice”.

“We are now urgently considering our options. I also explained that the UK would have acted differently if this had been a UK diplomat serving in the US,” he added.

The US State Department said Anne Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity from prosecution when Harry Dunn, 19, was killed in England last August. She left the country shortly after

"If the United States were to grant the UK’s extradition request, it would render the invocation of diplomatic immunity a practical nullity and would set an extraordinarily troubling precedent," the US government said.

Harry Dunn’s family say Ms Sacoolas was driving on the wrong side of the road at the time of the crash near an air force base used by the US military.

Mr Raab said there was a “need to resolve the issue whereby family members” at the military base “are immune from criminal prosecution”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged US President Donald Trump, who has met with the Dunn family, to reconsider his government’s position.

A Dunn family spokesperson said: "This is a lawless, corrupt administration that appears intent on attacking even its closest international ally,"

"If Trump and Pompeo think this is an end to the matter, they have another thing coming to them," Radd Seiger, the spokesperson, added.