Anne Sacoolas, a former US spy, pleaded guilty for causing the death of 19-year-old British motorcyclist Harry Dunn in a traffic accident near US military base RAF Croughton in 2019, according to a report from the UK’s national news agency PA Media. 

At a hearing at the Old Bailey on Thursday, Dunn’s parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn sat behind lawyers as Sacoolas appeared for the hearing via videolink from the US. The  presiding judge, Justice Cheema Grubb adjourned the sentencing of Sacoolas until late November, while simultaneously asking the spy to fly to the UK as a gesture of remorse. 

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Justice Grubb has said that the punishment for the death of Dunn could be as low as a medium level community order and as high as a three-year prison sentence. However, she said that the regardless of the sentence, it would be meaningless unless Sacoolas presented herself in the UK. 

At the time of the accident, Sacoolas had claimed diplomatic immunity, which was supported by the United States government. She left the UK shortly after the accident. The UK’s Home Office filed an extradition request, which was rejected by the US State Department in January 2020. Sacoolas was employed by a US intelligence agency at the time of the accident, according to a 2021 report from the Independent, citing her lawyer. 

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Sacoolas’ hasty exit from the UK 19 days after Dunn’s death sparked an international diplomacy row. Her husband, a CIA employee was stationed at RAF Croughton at the time. After the incident, Dunn’s parents launched a campaign to bring Sacoolas back to the UK. 

The two even made a trip to America in a bid to make a plea to then president Donald Trump. They met the former president at the White House, where he ambushed them with news that Sacoolas was in the next room waiting to speak with them. 

Dunn’s parents turned down the meeting as it was unexpected and would have taken place without mediators.