Government apologises over 'unacceptable language' used by officials about Harry Dunn's family

The government has apologised to Harry Dunn's family for the 'unprofessional and unacceptable language' used by officials about the Northamptonshire campaigners.

Civil servants described the teenager's bereaved mother's calls for the foreign secretary to resign 'excessive' and their spokesman, Radd Seiger, 'evil' in private emails.

The vitriol came to light in a bundle of documents sent to the family from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and Home Office through subject access requests.

Mr Seiger said: "Government officials are required to conduct themselves in accordance with core values and defined standards of behaviour.

"These highly unprofessional and defamatory comments made repeatedly by officials at the FCDO over a number of months, behind our backs, represent nothing short of a depressing and catastrophic departure from those values and standards.

"They appear to have behaved as if they had no rules to abide by, and appear to have been left unsupervised for a lengthy period of time.

"It is appalling to see that whilst we were seeking justice for Harry as anybody would in these circumstances, these officials thought it was appropriate to engage in baseless keyboard warfare against us."

Harry, 19, died after his motorcycle was involved in a head-on crash with Sacoolas’ car on the wrong side of the B4031 near Croughton on August 27, 2019.

The American driver claimed diplomatic immunity using a legal loophole as her husband was working at RAF Croughton for the United States government and left the UK three weeks later.

The teen's family have been leading a high-profile campaign for the driver to return to face the UK courts and for the government to explain its involvement in the scandal.

In the documents, FCDO staff also described Mr Seiger as 'aggressive' and 'erratic' while claiming he had played a 'media blinder'.

Another message said the bereaved family were 'so convinced... of everyone's bad faith that it never crosses their mind that anything of that we are telling them might be true'.

Permanent under-secretary of state for foreign affairs Sir Philip Barton apologised for the 'unprofessional and unacceptable' language which he admitted they might find 'upsetting'.

The FCDO's top civil servant added that 'appropriate management action' had been taken and the emails do not reflect the wider views of the department.

An FCDO spokesperson said: "We are very sorry for the offence caused to the Dunn family and their spokesperson.

"The views expressed by a small number officials were deeply inappropriate, and in no way represent the views of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

"We will continue to do everything we can to support them to achieve justice for Harry."

Sacoolas was charged with causing death by dangerous driving in December, 2019, but an extradition request was rejected by the US government the next month.

In November, Harry's family lost a High Court judicial review over her diplomatic immunity claim and the government's handling of the case - an appeal has been allowed.

Mr Seiger added: "I am more than happy to bear the brunt of any criticism myself where it is warranted as someone who is representing Harry’s family, but to attack a bereaved, grieving mother who has never put a foot wrong in the campaign is scandalous.

"The sad reality is that these unprofessional comments are entirely without foundation and say all that is needed to be said about these so called officials rather than anything that either the parents or I have said or done in the campaign."