UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson demands US diplomat’s wife returns to the UK following fatal car crash

A UK car accident has turned into an international incident when the driver fled to the US claiming diplomatic immunity. Now Boris Johnson wants Trump to intervene.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will ask the White House to waive a US citizen’s diplomatic immunity following a fatal car crash in Britain. Evan Vucci/AP Photo

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will personally raise with US President Donald Trump the issue of an American diplomat’s wife who fled Britain after allegedly running over and killing a teenager while driving on the wrong side of the road.

The August crash, in Northamptonshire in England’s East Midlands, killed Harry Dunn, 19, when he was hit close to a US spy station.

The alleged driver left the UK shortly after the crash despite telling police she would not.

As she is linked to the American embassy, she has diplomatic immunity meaning she is not susceptible to prosecution in the UK and is allowed to leave.

The incident is now proving to be an issue in US-UK relations.

19-year old Harry Dunn was killed when a car, driving on the wrong side of the road, ran into his bike.

Overnight, Mr Johnson revealed that Anne Sacoolas, 42, is the woman police want to interview following the crash.

“I hope that Anne Sacoolas will come back and will engage properly with the processes of law as they are carried out in this country,” Mr Johnson said.

“If we can’t resolve it, then of course I will be raising it myself personally with the White House.”

The PM said it was wrong for the woman to have used diplomatic immunity as a mechanism to leave Britain. Police have written to the US embassy in London to demand immunity be waived for Ms Sacoolas.

The transatlantic trouble began on August 27 when Mr Dunn, of Oxfordshire, was riding his motorbike close to a Royal Air Force base at Croughton, north east of Oxford.

Despite officially being a UK base, RAF Croughton is run by the US air force and is a central hub of much of its communications across Europe.

Ms Sacoolas is believed to have been driving on the wrong side of the road when the collision occurred.

Anne Sacoolas has been accused of fleeing the UK following a fatal car crash. Picture: Sky News UK

She has been accused of driving on the wrong side of the road.

Sky News UK reported that diplomatic immunity usually only covered diplomats and their dependants based in London. But a special deal was struck between the UK and US in 1994 that extended that benefit to diplomats at RAF Croughton.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has already raised the case in a telephone call with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

A British Foreign Office spokesman said Mr Raab had “reiterated his disappointment with the US decision and urged them to reconsider”.

In a statement to news agency AFP on Sunday, the US embassy in London offered condolences to the family involved but suggested Ms Sacoolas’s diplomatic immunity would not be waived.

“Any questions regarding a waiver of the immunity with regard to our diplomats and their family members overseas in a case like this receive intense attention at senior levels,” it said.

The embassy confirmed the incident had involved a vehicle driven by the spouse of a US diplomat who had departed the country, but added that diplomatic immunity was “rarely waived”.

RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire, UK, outside of which the crash happened. Picture: Peter Summers/Getty Images

RAF Croughton is an important US spy base which manages communications across Europe. Picture: Peter Summers/Getty Images

Mr Dunn’s mother said she wanted the diplomat’s wife to return to face justice.

“If she’d have stayed and faced us as a family we could have found that forgiveness … but forgiving her for leaving, I’m nowhere near,” Charlotte Charles said.

She made a direct plea to Mr Trump.

“President Trump, please listen. We’re a family in ruin. We’re broken,” she told The Sun.

“We can’t grieve. Please, please let her get back on a plane.”

Sky News UK reported the alleged driver was advised to leave the UK by the American embassy.

An attempt by Northamptonshire Police to stop her leaving was declined, and the US embassy has confirmed she was no longer in the UK.