US diplomat's wife in UK car crash will not return to UK

Charlotte Charles, left, the mother of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn who was killed in a car crash by US citizen Anne Sacoolas, stands next to her husband Bruce Charles, right, as they speak to members of the media before a meeting with Britain's Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State, Dominic Raab, at the Foreign and Commonwealth OfficeForeign and Commonwealth Office in central London on January 27, 2020. A British court said Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomat, will not return to Britain for sentencing this week after admitting to causing the death of a teenager by driving carelessly in England three years ago.

Harry Dunn, 19, died in August 2019 after his motorcycle was hit by a car driven by Sacoolas on the wrong side of the road by Sacoolas near RAF Croughton, an air force base in the English county of Northamptonshire that is used by the U.S. military.

Sacoolas, whose husband worked as a US intelligence officer at the base, left Britain shortly after the accident, claiming diplomatic immunity from criminal prosecution and the United States refusing to extradite her.

ALSO READ: Court: US diplomat's wife had immunity in the UK teenager's death.

In October, Sacoolas appeared in London's Old Bailey Court by video link from the United States and denied causing death by dangerous driving, but admitted the less serious charge. The judge had previously ordered that she attend the sentencing, which took place on Thursday.

The Old Bailey said on Tuesday that an application for Sacoolas to take part and be sentenced via videolink had been renewed.

The defence supplied material in support of the application including evidence that Mrs Sacoolas government employer has advised her not to attend in person. The application was granted by the judge, according to the statement.

Radd Seiger, a spokesman for Dunn's family, said that this was nothing short of a cowardly act on the part of an oppressor, and he said he had asked for an urgent meeting with Foreign Secretary James Cleverly to ask what action the government would take.

READ MORE: 'Anomaly' over US diplomatic immunity removed after fatal UK crash.

The British government backed the call for Sacoolas to be prosecuted after the crash resulted in a diplomatic spat between London and Washington.

She admitted she carries a maximum jail term of five years but guidelines suggest a shorter prison sentence or a community order.