Harry Dunn's family accuse South Northamptonshire MP of failing to properly support campaign for justice

Harry Dunn's family has criticised South Northamptonshire MP Andrea Leadsom for her lack of meaningful support for their campaign for justice.

The campaigners are disgusted their parliamentary representative did not come to their aid in the immediate aftermath of the crash nor has she supported their calls for a public inquiry into the Government's handling of the case.

Mrs Leadsom says she has done everything she can for the bereaved parents and will continue to stand by them.

Harry's mother, Charlotte Charles, said: "Andrea Leadsom continually tells us that she wants to do everything to help get justice for our son but she cannot mean that.

"If she did, she would roll her sleeves and help us get to the truth."

Harry, 19, died after his motorcycle was involved in a collision with Anne Sacoolas' car, which she has admitted was on the wrong side of the road, near Croughton on August 27, 2019.

The American driver initially co-operated with police but then told officers she had diplomatic immunity before flying back to the United States a few weeks later.

The Northants family were never directly approached by Mrs Leadsom in the wake of the crash or when the diplomatic immunity scandal came to light.

Spokesman Radd Seiger said: "The first question I asked the family when I knocked on their door on September 28, last year to see if I could help was whether our local MP, Andrea Leadsom, had been out to see them or offered any help.

"I was astonished and mortified to learn that the answer was no.

"South Northants, an otherwise sleepy constituency, and Harry’s family were in the middle of a diplomatic wrangle and crisis and Andrea Leadsom had not been to knock on the family’s door to offer help, as I did, nor even sent a letter?

"That lack of intervention on her part will always trouble me."

Since then, the family has been fighting on multiple fronts to get Sacoolas to return to the UK and to ensure no one else goes through what they have by finding out the truth about the Government did.

While Mrs Leadsom may not have been one of the main decision-makers at the time, she was on Boris Johnson's Cabinet as business secretary.

The family has asked their MP when she found out about the crash and its international implications and when she spoke to the prime minister about it.

Mr Seiger said: "Her replies at best have been evasive and the parents are now forming their own conclusions about Mrs Leadsom’s role in the affair and why she did not offer to help at the outset."

Following a series of concerning revelations about the Government's involvement in Sacoolas leaving the country, Harry's family want a parliamentary inquiry held to find out exactly what happened behind-closed-doors.

They have had support from Labour but have not been able to rely on Mrs Leadsom for her backing, who has remained silent on the issue.

Mrs Charles said: "If she is prepared to fight on our behalf in Parliament and support our call for an inquiry into why things went so badly wrong in London then we would, of course, be more than happy to work with her.

"But given how evasive she is being on that aspect of the campaign, she does not appear to be motivated to do that so we will carry on regardless."

Mrs Leadsom says she has written to or spoken with the prime minister, secretaries of state, the attorney general, the Northamptonshire police and crime commissioner, the chief crown prosecutor, the deputy head of mission at the US Embassy, and the base commander at RAF Croughton, on a range of issues surrounding Harry's death.

The MP said she has also had conversations with ministers and others more recently after Interpol issued a Diffusion Notice on Sacoolas, meaning she will be arrested if she leaves the US.

She added that she has offered to attend the meetings with Harry’s parents, but Mr Seiger has declined.

"I wish nothing more than to help Harry’s family as their MP, with great compassion and sympathy for their loss," she said.

"I will continue to assure Harry’s family that I’ll stand by them to help in whatever way I can."