Harry Dunn’s killer is pictured just moments after she is spared jail for a horror crash that left the teenage motorcyclist begging: “Please don’t let me die.”
American citizen Anne Sacoolas has refused to say why she did not return to the UK to appear in court in person, where today she was handed a suspended eight-month sentence for causing Harry's death by careless driving, appearing at the Old Bailey by video link.
The 48-year-old admitted to killing the 19-year-old while driving a Volvo near a US military base in August 2019.
The mum-of-three drove her Volvo XC90 on the wrong side of the road for 350 metres before it ploughed into Harry’s bike outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire.
Following her sentencing, Sacoolas left law offices at Franklin Court in Washington DC from where she appeared.
She had earlier been driven into an underground car park to avoid being seen by her husband, Jonathan, who attended the scene of Harry's crash. As they left, her spouse spy took the wheel.
When approached by The Mirror to ask if she had any comment to make or to add a further apology to Harry’s family, Sacoolas refused.
We also asked: “Why have you refused to return to the UK to appear in court in person?”
She again remained tight-lipped and refused to answer.
It came after the Old Bailey in London heard harrowing details of Harry's final moments in which he pleaded not to die as his life ebbed away.
His family has waged a tireless three-year campaign for justice and today Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said she was powerless to enforce any community sentence while Sacoolas remained in the US.
Speaking outside court, Harry's mother, Charlotte Charles, branded Sacoolas a "huge coward" and said it was "despicable" that she had not been in court for the sentencing.
Asked about the sentence, Charlotte said: "Job done, she'll have a criminal record her entire life."
Sacoolas appeared via video link wearing a grey top and cream-coloured jacket as Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb delivered her sentence.
The hearing has joined a handful of previous sentencings so far this year which, for the first time in British legal history, have been broadcast for the public.
Harry was killed when the US citizen was driving her Volvo on the wrong side of the road outside the American military base RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27, 2019.
Sacoolas had left a BBQ at the airbase when her car slammed into Harry’s Kawasaki, sparking an “explosion“ that left his bike “extensively fire damaged”.
Harry - who had spent the day with his best friend Robert Hill - was thrown over the vehicle and onto the road.
Still conscious, he told passing motorist Jenifer Hewitt: “The car was on the wrong side of the road.”
Sacoolas - who had only been in the UK for a matter of months - had gathered her two young children from her car and had tried to tend to Harry but was “too afraid” to move his body.
When the police arrived, she said: “It’s all my fault, I was on the wrong side of the road.”
Sobbing with her head in her hands, she said she had been “so stupid” and “made a mistake”, adding: “I’ve only been here a couple of weeks.”
Harry was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where he died later that night suffering "multiple severe injuries".
Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf by the US government after the crash, and was able to leave the UK 19 days after the incident.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said that appearing in person today would have been "strong evidence of remorse".
During her sentencing remarks, Mrs Justice Cheema Grubb told Anne Sacoolas: “There is no doubt that the calm and dignified persistence of these parents and family of that young man has led through three years of heartbreak and effort to your appearance before this court and acknowledge your guilt.”
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Anne Sacoolas: “At no point during these proceedings was it suggested that you were not free to travel.
“There could be little reason where a young man had met his death for you not to be required to attend for sentence.”
Speaking about the renewed application for the defendant to appear via video link, the judge said: “A week before that date, the court received a renewal of an application for you to appear via live link which made reference to harassment you and your family had received.
“A request was made on your behalf for a delay of a week to obtain further evidence – this was allowed.”
The judge said she then received “for the first time in these criminal proceedings” what she described as a “barrier” to her attendance in court from the US government.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said she received a statement from the US administration, saying: “The US government does not in any way support Mrs Sacoolas’ appearance at this hearing.
“Her return could place significant US interests at risk.”
Addressing the court through tears, Harry's mum said his passing "haunts me every minute of every day and I'm not sure how I will get over it".
Sacoolas was seen wiping away tears as Charlotte read her victim impact statement.
She said: "I didn’t make it to the hospital in time before he passed and the thought of that haunts me to my core.
“My job is to comfort my children and I wasn’t there for Harry to comfort him in what must have been an awful and painful, slow death, particularly as he lay on the side of the road waiting for an ambulance bleeding to death.
“I beat myself up over and over again and wish I had left work earlier so that I could have gotten to him in time.
“If I had left work on time that night, I would have been able to delay him leaving the house, so that he wouldn’t have been travelling along the same road as Anne Sacoolas.”
Sacoolas said she had been subjected to death threats by email, telephone and at her home.
In a statement read to court Sacoolas said she wanted to "extend her sincerest condolences" to Harry's family.
She added: "My tragic mistake led to the loss of Harry and I live with that every single day. There's not a day goes by that Harry is not on my mind."
Sacoolas was sentenced to 8 months suspended for 12 months, but she won't spend a day behind bars.
