FIGHT FOR JUSTICE
HARRY Dunn’s mum has vowed to carry on fighting for justice one year after her son’s death.
Charlotte Charles said she wanted to ensure no family would "suffer like we had" after a loophole allowed Harry’s alleged killer to claim diplomatic immunity.
7
7
The wife of an American intelligence official, Anne Sacoolas, fled to the US following a road crash outside a military base in Northamptonshire which resulted in the 19-year-old motorcyclist's death.
The loophole which allowed Sacoolas to avoid the British justice system was closed by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in July.
She was charged with death by dangerous driving in December but the US State Department has since rejected requests to extradite her to the UK.
Mum Charlotte said: “I'm feeling really positive in the sense of what the campaign has achieved and how much hard work we've put into it, it's definitely paying off.
"On a personal level, realising that we're a year on from when we lost Harry, it's very difficult to come to terms with.
"When we think about different steps along the way, it feels like some of those steps were an awfully long time ago - almost in a different lifetime.
"Yet when I think about the last time I held Harry, it seems like yesterday."
Charlotte and Harry’s dad Tim Dunn have travelled to the US to fight for justice and met with President Donald Trump at the White House.
The family have brought legal claims against both the Foreign Secretary and the US Government for their handling of Harry's death.
Charlotte said the closing of the loophole was the biggest accomplishment of her campaign to date.
7
7
She said: "Harry's name is in history now, forever written into history.
"The 'Harry Dunn Amendment'... it just makes us so very, very proud as a family.
"What we have been through can no longer happen to anyone else, that was one of our main aims right from the off so a few weeks ago when that was done, and that loophole was plugged, it was just amazing to know that nobody is going to suffer like we have.
"He would have been proud of us.
"Really, really proud of us."
Dad Tim told Good Morning Britain today: “He was a great lad. He was brilliant, he was thoughtful, caring, funny, joking, laughing.
“As a dad I couldn’t have been any prouder of him as a human being, as a lad, as a boy. He was everything, perfect.
“He loved his sport, he loved his motorbikes.
“He loved his family, he was a family guy.”
Charlotte said that wanting to keep the promise she made to Harry is what drives her to carry on.
She said: "It's the first thing you think of whenever you get a moment, in between everything else we're doing you just get that quiet moment when you just get that rage of desire all over again to think 'come on, we've got to drive this forward'.
7
7
"I've got to complete that promise I made to him, it doesn't matter what it takes, I need to do it, I have to do it."
She hopes that Sacoolas will go through the UK justice system in the next year.
Charlotte said: "It doesn't matter to me who she is, what her status is, where she lives, what she does for a job.
"She needs to go through the UK justice system. Simple as that. I won't stop until we've got that."
In September last year, the family were told by Northamptonshire Police they had less than a 1% chance of anybody being held accountable for Harry's death.
But since the charge in December, the UK Government has tried different methods to resolve the matter, with a reported Interpol Red Notice being issued and discussions over whether Sacoolas could be tried either virtually or in her absence.
Asked about how she copes with grief, Charlotte said: "We cry.
"I cry probably a lot more now than I did.
"I don't know whether that is because a year has gone by or whether it is because I miss him more.
"So I do cry.
"Not as much as I should, but I don't think the grieving process really has got under way.
"We don't really get the time to lock ourselves away and allow those tears to really fall because you're very aware of the fact that if you allow it to happen, you sometimes need a few days to get yourself back on track.
Most read in news
"The campaign is so busy and we are so grateful for that but we can't allow ourselves to take a week off at a time.
"So we are crying but no I don't believe we are properly grieving yet.
"We've got to get that promise completed and then I think I can."
7
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
Topics