Police Failures Exposed in Harry Dunn Case: Justice Delayed, Trust Betrayed
I want to talk about something deeply unsettling today — the long fight for justice in the case of Harry Dunn, a 19-year-old motorcyclist who tragically lost his life in 2019. Harry was hit by a car driven by American diplomat Anne Sacoolas, who was on the wrong side of the road near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire. And as heartbreaking as that is, what followed is arguably even worse: a complete collapse of justice and accountability, now confirmed in a damning independent report.
According to this review, Sacoolas "could and should have been arrested" right after the crash. Yet, police at the scene claimed she was in shock and didn’t treat it as a critical incident. Instead of detaining her to gather key evidence, they let her go. Days later, she fled the country, shielded by diplomatic immunity, and the Dunn family weren’t informed until it was too late. This was not just a procedural slip-up — it was a betrayal.
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The report lays out 38 failures by Northamptonshire Police. From not arresting Sacoolas, to failing to preserve bodycam footage, to mishandling crucial forensic evidence like Harry’s clothing — it paints a picture of a force utterly unprepared, and in some cases unwilling, to deliver justice. Even worse, the former chief constable, Nick Adderley, gave misleading statements about Sacoolas’s immunity and publicly attacked the family’s spokesperson. He has since been sacked for gross misconduct, including falsifying details of his own military background.
Harry’s mother, Charlotte Charles, summed it up best: “Harry was left to die on the roadside. Sacoolas was not arrested. She fled. They didn’t tell us. They mishandled vital evidence.” Her pain is palpable, and frankly, her anger is justified.
In 2022, Sacoolas eventually pleaded guilty via video link and received a suspended sentence — a move many view as far too lenient considering the severity of the incident and the years of anguish caused by the cover-up. The latest report now confirms what Harry’s family has known and said all along: they were failed — not just by one person, but by the entire system.
There’s no undoing the pain, no reversing the outcome. But at the very least, this public acknowledgment of failures must serve as a turning point. Justice delayed is still justice denied — but accountability can, and must, begin now.
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