Harry Dunn death: Police chief warns spokesman for teenager’s family as officers leave to question US diplomat’s wife

Police have warned the spokesman for Harry Dunn’s family to bemore careful about his comments on the teenager’s death, as officers prepare to travel to the US to question the American diplomat’s wife alleged to have killed him.

The chief constable of Northamptonshire Police urgedRadd Seigerto “exercise constraint” [sic] in his public statements after he attacked the force’shandling of the investigation as “unacceptable and unforgivable”.

The rebuke came as it emerged Anne Sacoolas, a US national who claimed diplomatic immunity to leave the UK following the car crash which killed 19-year-old Dunn in August, had asked to be interviewedunder caution by British detectives.

Chief constable Nick Adderley said her lawyers had “clearly stated that the suspect wants to be personally interviewed by officers from Northamptonshire Policein order for them to see her and the devastation this has caused her and her family.”

Ms Sacoolas declined to provide a written statement and “requested to be interviewed by British police officers, under caution, in the United States,” Mr Adderley told a press conference on Tuesday. He added:“The suspect has cooperated fully with the police and with the authorities.”

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Officers are awaiting the necessary visas before travelling to the US to interview Ms Sacoolas, who has previously admitted she was driving on the wrong side of the road when her car collided with Dunn’s motorbike nearRAF Croughton, a US-run military base in Northamptonshire,on 27 August.

The American, whose husband is an intelligence officer,flew out of the country on a US air force plane on 15 September without giving her account of the crash to police.

Dunn’s parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, have demanded answers from detectives, the UK Foreign Officeand the American government about why Ms Sacoolas was allowed to leave the UK.

Mr Seiger, their spokesman, claimed on Monday that police“knew weeks before the family were told that Mrs Sacoolas had left the country”. He said authorities’ failure to keep theDunn’s parents informed “only compounds the family’s pain and misery”.

“They feel totally abandoned by the system and were left with no choice but to take their case to the court of public opinion,” he added.

Speaking in Tuesday’s press conference, Mr Adderley urged Mr Seiger to “exercise constraint [sic]in his commentary as the case moves forward”.

“I understand the emotion and I understand the anxiety,” he told reporters. “I also understand the will and the want for answers to questions the family are asking.”

He added: “From the police’s point of view we have to make sure we maintain the integrity of all of the evidence and that it is not skewed by [the diplomatic immunity debate]to ensure a fair trial should we get to an extradition position and she comes back to the UK. We don’t want to jeopardise that by not affording her a fair trial.”

Asked if he accepted his force had caused unnecessary trauma to Dunn’s family by delaying informing them that Ms Sacoolas had left the country, the chief constable said it was “very much a judgment call”.

“If Charlotte and Tim have been upset by that delay that is some