Harry Dunn’s father has said the suggestion of a deal involving Prince Andrew being “handed over” to the US for questioning about Jeffrey Epstein in exchange for his son’s alleged killer is a “no brainer”.
Tim Dunn said his family needed American suspect Anne Sacoolas, who fled to the US, extradited back to the UK “so that we can get justice and closure for the loss of our son”.
It comes after it emerged the US Department of Justice filed a mutual legal assistance (MLA) request to the Home Office for the Duke of York to be made available for questioning as a witness in an inquiry into billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, according to reports by The Sun and US broadcasters.
The Dunn family joined forces with alleged victims of Epstein earlier this year to put pressure on Ms Sacoolas and the Duke of York to “co-operate with law enforcement”.
Prince Andrew was a friend of Epstein’s but has always insisted he did not witness or suspect any wrongdoing by the disgraced financier, who killed himself in prison while waiting to be tried on sex trafficking charges.
In a joint press conference in New York in February, Lisa Bloom, the lawyer representing six of Epstein’s alleged victims, said the “parallels between the two cases are eerie” and involved “everyday teenagers” who were “victimised”.
Nineteen-year-old Harry died when his motorbike was involved in a collision with a car outside a US military base in Northamptonshire in August 2019.
Ms Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence official based at RAF Croughton, claimed diplomatic immunity after the crash and fled to the US.
The 42-year-old was charged with causing death by dangerous driving in December, but an extradition request submitted by the Home Office was refused the following month — a decision described by the US State Department as “final”.
Commenting on the reported MLA request, Mr Dunn told PA news agency: “This is a no brainer to me. No-one is above the law no matter who you are.
“Andrew is clearly wanted over in the US to help achieve justice for the victims of Epstein.
“We need Mrs Sacoolas back here so that we can get justice and closure for the loss of our son.”
The teenager’s father also claimed that during a meeting with the foreign secretary in January, Dominic Raab said: “If we threaten the US, look at the size of them compared to the size of us”, while discussing the response to the US’s refusal to extradite Ms Sacoolas.
The family’s spokesman Radd Seiger added: “We entirely support Andrew heading to the US to assist with inquiries over there, but not until Anne Sacoolas is back on UK soil having been through the justice system here.”
A spokesperson for the Home Office said: “As a matter of long-standing policy and practice, we neither confirm nor deny the existence of mutual legal assistance requests.”
Similarly, the Department of Justice told The Independent: “As a matter of policy, the US Department of Justice does not publicly comment on communications with foreign governments on investigative matters, including confirming or denying the very existence of such communications.”
Additional reporting by Press Association.
