American citizen Anne Sacoolas has pleaded guilty to causing the death of British teenager Harry Dunn near a US military base.
The 45-year-old appeared at the Old Bailey today, where she admitted to causing the death of the 19-year-old motorcyclist by careless driving in August 2019.
Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf by the US government following the crash near RAF Croughton, in Northamptonshire and was able to leave the UK 19 days after the incident, reports the Mirror.
In December 2019, the Crown Prosecution Service authorised Northamptonshire Police to charge her with causing Mr Dunn's death by dangerous driving.
On Thursday, she denied that charge but admitted the lesser offence when she appeared in Court One of the Old Bailey by video link.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC said the plea was accepted by the Crown. The defendant, who is on unconditional bail, had identified herself before entering her pleas before senior judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb.
Mr Dunn's family, who had long campaigned for justice, were sitting in court. Both Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn held their heads in their hands as Sacoolas pleaded guilty.
Telling the court the Crown accepted the plea of causing death by careless driving, Mr Atkinson said: "The Crown recognises putting at risk a vulnerable road user is capable of amounting to dangerous driving.
"The prosecution has taken into account, the mitigation available to this defendant and the balance of justice.
"It has been considered at the very highest level. The Crown considers the plea of causing death by careless driving is one that is acceptable."
Mr Atkinson said the Crown would not be proceeding to trial on the causing death by dangerous driving charge.
The guilty plea was watched by around 20 members of Harry Dunn's family. Harry Dunn's family campaigned for over three years for Sacoolas to face the UK justice system, which involved meetings with high-profile politicians and a trip to the White House.
The teenager's parents recalled the "relief" they felt as Sacoolas appeared on the screen at Westminster Magistrates' Court in September.
Mrs Charles said: "Walking towards court, there was still the apprehension of 'is she going to appear?' Until it actually happened you can't allow yourself to fully believe that it's going to happen this time.
"We've been here before, it was meant to happen in January and at the 11th hour the rug was pulled from beneath our feet.
"We were strong as a family - we walked tall and proud, held our heads up high and just aimed for those front doors.
"Even sitting in the courtroom was terrifying. It seemed to take forever for her to appear on that screen. It was probably the hardest time in the whole three years, that 12 minutes or 15 minutes waiting for her to appear.
"We could see other people on there (the video link) but we couldn't see her, the judge was coming out and I was thinking 'is there a last-minute technical hitch and they can't get in?"'
Mrs Charles continued: "The link took a while to come up - they were 10-12 minutes late and it felt like hours. Our knuckles were blue holding on to each other, from gripping each other so tightly. And then when she did appear it was almost like, relief."
Mr Dunn said: "When she did appear, it was like 'this is actually going to happen'..."
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