Northamptonshire Police investigating the death of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn have issued an apology to his family after new report reveals failure in senior leadership. The report published today finds that ‘a prompt and effective investigation was not considered or articulated’.

19-year-old Harry Dunn died in August 2019 after a fatal motorcycle collision with a car driving on the wrong side of the road. The driver of the car, Anne Sacoolas, was a US state department employee who fled to the US after claiming diplomatic immunity. Her departure led the family on a three-year campaign for justice, prompting the conviction of Sacoolas for careless driving in December 2022.

The report breaks down every aspect of the police investigation. While the report commended the Senior Investigation Officer, it was highlighted that not making a declaration of a critical incident contributed to the lack of support for the Officer. The report is also heavily critical of the lack of coordination and adherence to professional guidelines by senior leadership, especially regarding the media relations guidelines that officials should adhere to for high-profile investigations.

The actions of former chief constable, Nick Adderley, are specifically addressed. The report found that Nick Adderley’s ‘erroneous statements’ about Sacoolas’s immunity status and his critical  comments toward the family’s spokesperson at both a high-level press conference and on social media had a ‘detrimental impact’, causing the family to ‘lose trust and confidence in Northamptonshire Police.’

In response to the review, Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, quoted in the Guardian said that ‘today’s review report confirms what we have known for years, that we were failed by the very people we should have been able to trust’.

The report makes 38 recommendations on how the police force can improve handling complex cases like Harry Dunn’s, including improving engagement with victims’ families and developing better training for critical incident management.

Northamptonshire Police’s Head of Protective Services, Assistant Chief Constable Emma James, who oversaw the delivery of the report, apologised to the family and said ‘the picture which emerges is one of a Force which has failed the family on a number of fronts, and we hope the findings, which are troubling in several respects, will provide some answers to questions which the family will have wanted to know in the years that have passed’.

She added that ‘we have taken a deep look at ourselves and hope the transparent way we have identified failings of the past will go some way to re-building the confidence of Harry’s family and friends going forward as well as the wider public at large’.