Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab branded a 'coward' after snubbing the father of a British teen killed in a crash with a US diplomat's wife

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Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab branded a 'coward' after snubbing the father of a British teen killed in a crash with a US diplomat's wife

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FILE PHOTO: Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab appears on BBC TV's The Andrew Marr Show in London, Britain, November 17, 2019. Jeff Overs/BBC/Handout via REUTERS
  • Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has been branded a coward after refusing to talk to the parent of Harry Dunn, a British teen who was killed in a collision with the wife of an American diplomat.
  • Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence official, is accused of driving the car which killed Harry Dunn.
  • She has claimed diplomatic immunity and fled to the United States.
  • The family has heavily criticised Raab over his handling of the case.
  • Raab became visibly angry as he pointed his finger at Tim Dunn and said it was "not on" that he had been confronted "right in front of the cameras."

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was branded a "coward" after he refused to speak on camera with the father of the British teen Harry Dunn who was killed in a collision with the wife of an American diplomat after Raab refused to speak to him on camera.

Tim Dunn asked to speak to Raab as he pulled up outside a venue in his constituency of Esher and Walton for an election hustings. The family has heavily criticised Raab over his handling of the case.

They continue to seek justice after the main suspect Anne Sacoolas, the wife of an American intelligence official stationed in the UK, claimed diplomatic immunity and fled to America.

Responding to Dunn's request to speak to him, Raab became visibly angry as he pointed his finger at Dunn and said it was "not on" that he had been confronted "right in front of the cameras."

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The foreign secretary said he "did not want to keep the other people waiting" inside and suggested that Dunn called him another time, saying he had given him his personal phone number.

But Dunn replied: "You didn't give us your phone number at all."

Raab added: "Do you know what, I'm very happy to see you any time, but I better go in there for the hustings. I'm really happy to come and see you anytime."

A crowd which included Tim Dunn booed and shouted "Coward" at Raab as he left the hustings event.

Watch: Dominic Raab confronted by father of bike crash victim

'He's lied to us two or three times'

Anne Sacoolas is believed to have been driving on the wrong side of the road when she hit 19-year-old Harry Dunn's motorbike outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August.

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The US intelligence official's wife claimed diplomatic immunity and returned to the United States, sparking international controversy.

The parents of Dunn have launched legal action against the Foreign Office, and say Raab lied to them about his knowledge of Sacoolas's departure from the UK.

Raab has previously admitted that the Foreign Office asked Northamptonshire Police to delay telling Tim Dunn and Harry's mother Charlotte Charles that the woman involved in the crash had fled the UK.

Tim Dunn said outside the hustings: "We feel he's lied to us two or three times in meetings and in statements he's made in the Commons."

"And we feel that people should know how he really is as a gentleman and how he comes across to us as our family."

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In October, a Foreign Office spokesperson said: "We have done everything we can properly to clear a path so that justice can be done for Harry's family.

"As the Foreign Secretary set out in Parliament, the individual involved had diplomatic immunity whilst in the country under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. We will respond to any legal action in due course.

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