Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent at the Old Bailey

Charlotte Charles is now in the witness box reading her statement.

She's in tears. As soon as she begins to speak, Anne Sacoolas, watching remotely, wipes her eyes with a tissue.

Charles says it was a "privilege and joy" to raise Harry who, along with his twin had been the "light of my life".

She said that if she had got home earlier that night, she would have had her usual chat with her son and that would have delayed him leaving the house.

"I don't know how I am ever going to get over it. It is almost impossible to describe. I struggle to sleep," she tells the court.

"I have been shaken to the point of breaking. I made a promise to Harry in the hospital that we would get him justice - and a mother never breaks a promise to her son. I just want to wrap my arms around him."

Sacoolas initially claimed diplomatic immunity, which allowed her to leave the UK just under three weeks after the fatal crash that caused Harry Dunn’s death. So what is it?

Diplomatic immunity means that, in theory, diplomats and their families cannot be arrested or prosecuted for any crime, or civil case.

It’s a status reserved for foreign diplomats, provided they don’t have British citizenship. Around 23,000 people have it in the UK.

However, those entitled to immunity are still expected to obey the law.

The immunity also applies to diplomatic buildings such as embassies - police cannot enter these premises without an invitation from the ambassador or head of mission.

This was used in the case of Julian Assange who was allowed to stay in the Ecuadorian embassy for several years, until the Ecuadorian ambassador gave permission for UK authorities to enter.

Read more here.

Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent at the Old Bailey

Diplomatic immunity ceased on her return to the US - but extradition was denied.

So the prosecution has only occurred voluntarily, the court hears.

Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent at the Old Bailey

Sacoolas later gave a voluntary police interview, Atkinson continues.

He says she gave a frank account of accidentally driving on what she called "the American side" of the road for just 350m from the base to the brow of the hill where the collision occurred. She had become aware of Harry a split second before the collision.

"I told him I did not want to move him because I was afraid that I would cause him more harm than good," she had recalled to the police, Atkinson says.

"It was when I got my kids to the side of the road that I had realised what had happened. I remember being confused ... and then figuring out what had occurred."

Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent at the Old Bailey

Sacoolas was disorientated and in shock, says Atkinson.

When a woman reached the scene, the American driver said: "It's all my fault. I was on the wrong side of the road. I have only been here a couple of weeks." The witness then rushed over to Harry, realising there was a casualty.

He said: "Don't let me die."

Sacoolas, when the police arrived, was co-operative - but in total shock. Her head was in her hands. She confirmed it had been her fault, Atkinson says.

Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent at the Old Bailey

Duncan Atkinson KC continues: "Neither driver appeared to have seen or reacted to the other."

Harry Dunn was thrown onto the front of the Volvo and over. His motorbike caught fire.

There was significant impact damage to the Volvo - its airbags had been activated and rear window smashed where Harry had landed.

"Speed was not a factor in the collision." he tells the court.

Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent at the Old Bailey

Duncan Atkinson KC, the prosecutor, is setting out the facts.

At about 8.20pm on 27 August 2019, Harry Dunn was fatally injured in a collision between his motorbike and a Volvo driven by the defendant.

She was driving her children home from a barbecue at the RAF Croughton air base.

CCTV from the airbase shows what happened less than a minute later.

On leaving the airbase, Mrs Sacoolas turned left towards Croughton village - in doing so it immediately turned onto the wrong side of the road.

Footage from a camera shows the headlights travelling away from the airbase and the single headlight of Harry Dunn's motorbike travelling towards her.

She and he were travelling towards each other on the same carriageway. There was an "explosion" as the cars met.

Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent at the Old Bailey

Live and direct from Washington DC, Anne Sacoolas has appeared on a video link split screen with her US-based lawyer, Amy Jeffress.

Sacoolas is sitting impassively in an anonymous video suite, wearing a smart off-white jacket.

In the well of Court One of the Old Bailey - scene of some of the most important trials in English criminal history - sit Harry Dunn's parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn.

Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent

When the accident happened, Anne Sacoolas claimed diplomatic immunity as the wife of a US official stationed in the UK.

The immunity allowed her to travel back to the US - but it has been the subject of some dispute.

The Crown Prosecution Service initially thought it did not apply to spouses of US employees stationed at the RAF Croughton facility.

But ministers later admitted to Parliament that a long-missed quirk in the arrangements for the base meant she could leave. In short, the US had never been asked to sign up to an agreement which meant that spouses at the base could be subject to legal action for incidents outside the course of their duties.

When the UK pointed out this anomaly to Washington, it refused to change its position and permit Mrs Sacoolas's return. It’s not clear what has since happened behind the scenes to prompt Mrs Sacoolas to volunteer to be prosecuted – but the US has maintained it would never send her back against her will.

In 2020, the UK and the US agreed to close the Croughton loophole, with the UK government saying relatives of US staff at the air base could now face prosecution for future alleged offences under the amended rules.

Anne Sacoolas has attended both previous court hearings via video-link from her lawyer's offices in Washington DC.

This was agreed following a period of transatlantic negotiations and a change in the law, external, brought in because of the pandemic, making it possible to hold remote hearings for all stages of a court case.

Adjourning the sentencing at the October hearing where Sacoolas pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Sacoolas that although she could not compel her to face justice in person, her doing so would provide "weighty evidence" of "genuine remorse".

However, a renewed application for her to appear via video-link has been granted.

A court spokesman said: "The application made jointly by the prosecution and defence for Mrs Sacoolas to participate and be sentenced by live link has been renewed.

"The defence have supplied material in support of the application, including evidence that Mrs Sacoolas's government employer has advised her not to attend in person.

“The judge has granted the application."

Radd Seiger, spokesman for the Dunn family, said they were "horrified to learn that the United States government is now actively interfering in our criminal justice system".

Read more: Harry Dunn: US driver will not attend sentencing in person

Anne Sacoolas killed Harry Dunn, 19, in a road crash outside the US military base RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019.

Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence official based at RAF Croughton, claimed diplomatic immunity following the crash and left the UK on a US Air Force plane 19 days after the crash.

Harry Dunn’s family and friends launched a three-year campaign to have the case brought to court, wanting the US to either waive Sacoolas’s immunity or have her voluntarily return to the UK.

It sparked a high-profile row between the UK prime minister and US presidents, with Donald Trump and Joe Biden sticking by Sacoolas’s right to diplomatic immunity, and former PM Boris Johnson saying he would do “whatever we can to get justice”.

After UK police charged Sacoolas with causing death by dangerous driving, the US refused to waive her immunity – meaning there could be no extradition back to the UK.

Following a period of transatlantic negotiations and a change in the law, external allowing remote video hearings because of the pandemic, it was agreed Sacoolas could take part in the proceedings from Washington.

She pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of causing death by careless driving, which the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) accepted. She is now to be sentenced, also attending via video-link from the US.

Image source, MEGA AGENCY

Anne Sacoolas, 45, is a US citizen. She had diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf by the US administration because her husband, Jonathan, worked for a US government-intelligence agency at RAF Croughton, a US air base in Northamptonshire.

She returned to the US 19 days after the crash in which Harry Dunn was killed. Her diplomatic immunity meant that any extradition request would be blocked and she has remained at home in the US ever since.

Sacoolas grew up in Aiken, South Carolina, and graduated from University of South Carolina.

By 2003, she was living in Virginia, according to a wedding announcement in her hometown newspaper. Her occupation, however, has been unclear.

But the Old Bailey said this week that she is employed by the US government.

Confirming that her request to attend the sentencing hearing by video-link had been granted, an Old Bailey spokesman said her application included “evidence that Mrs Sacoolas' government employer has advised her not to attend in person”.

There were also indications from a court hearing in the US that have led to suggestions that she - as well as her husband - also worked for a US intelligence agency.

Dunn’s family launched a civil claim for damages against Sacoolas and her husband in the US last year.

During a hearing in the case, her lawyer John McGavin said his “understanding” was that she worked for the US State Department. When asked if that was a cover job for an intelligence agency, he said he did not know.

He said he did not have the details of her specific roles or duties, but said he had been “led to believe” these were “a matter of security”.

Image source, PA Media

To those who knew him best, Harry Dunn was a funny and caring young man who was just starting to come into his own.

The 19-year-old twin had a passion for motorbikes, a sweet tooth and “great” sense of humour, his mother says.

His father, Tim Dunn, remembers his son’s love of Weymouth, a seaside town in Dorset, telling the BBC recently: “He would send me an Instagram picture of him sat looking out at the sea, saying: ‘Look where I am, Dad’.”

On the evening of 27 August 2019, Harry’s motorbike was struck by an SUV driven by Sacoolas on the wrong side of the road near the RAF Croughton military base in Northamptonshire.

He was taken to hospital but died a short time after.

Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the sentencing of Anne Sacoolas.

The 45-year-old US citizen admitted responsibility for the death of 19-year-old Harry Dunn after crashing into his motorbike outside a US military base in 2019.

She pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving in October.

It carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment but a community punishment or suspended jail sentence is often given.

Our home and legal correspondent Dominic Casciani will bring you updates from the courtroom as Mrs Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb gives her sentence at the Old Bailey this afternoon.

And a recent change in the law means you’ll also be able to watch the sentencing live when it happens by clicking the play icon at the top of this page.