Harry Dunn: Lawyers claim phone may have distracted suspect

Mr Dunn died in hospital after his motorbike was involved in a crash outside RAF Croughton

The suspect in the death of Harry Dunn may have been "distracted by her mobile phone" before the fatal crash, his family's lawyers claimed.

The 19-year-old died near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019 when a car driven by Anne Sacoolas hit his motorcycle.

She later left the country for the US, claiming diplomatic immunity.

Court documents said Mrs Sacoolas has been "evasive, non-responsive and inconsistent" about her phone usage.

The 43-year-old's car struck Mr Dunn's motorbike moments after she left the RAF base where her husband Jonathan worked for a US intelligence agency.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) authorised Northamptonshire Police to charge her with causing the teenager's death by dangerous driving, but an extradition request was rejected by the US government.

Family spokesman Radd Seiger (left) and Harry Dunn's parents Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn flew to the US last month for the damages claim in a Virginian court

Mr Dunn's parents have since filed a claim for damages against Mrs Sacoolas in the US.

Court documents were submitted by the Dunn family's legal representatives in opposition to a motion to suppress the employment details of Mrs and Mr Sacoolas at the time of the crash.

They said no calls or texts were found on her SIM card on the day of the crash, but call records were found for the day before and day after.

The documents said this "raises the possibility that Ms Sacoolas was distracted by her mobile telephone... and establishes that relevant phone data was deleted".

Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, Mr Dunn's parents, gave legal testimony last month in the damages claim against Mr and Mrs Sacoolas.

Mrs Sacoolas' and her husband's deposition in the case is due later this month.

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The Dunn family's spokesman Radd Seiger said: "As our lawyers have made clear consistently, we have no wish to lay bare [the US government's] national security secrets.

"We just want to get to the bottom of things and that is just what we intend to do."

Legal representatives of Mrs Sacoolas have been contacted for comment.