Mother says money ‘not going to bring Harry back’ after Trump cheque claim
The family spokesman has claimed President Donald Trump said a cheque was ‘ready’ on their visit to the White House.
Harry Dunn’s mother has said money “is not going to bring Harry back” after the family spokesman claimed President Donald Trump was “standing by, ready to write a cheque”.
Charlotte Charles said her and the rest of Harry’s family just want agencies involved in the case to “tell us the truth” and “learn that this cannot happen again”.
The family’s spokesman Radd Seiger told the PA news agency their meeting at the White House on October 15 ended with the President telling him that Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin was “all lined up to get the cheque ready”.
Harry, 19, was killed when his motorbike crashed into a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27.
The suspect in the case, 42-year-old Anne Sacoolas, left the country after the crash and claimed diplomatic immunity – which the family’s lawyers dispute.
After the meeting Mr Mold admitted there were lessons to be learned from the investigation and said he would look at ways in which the family could be more supported.
Speaking to PA after Mr Mold’s visit, Mrs Charles said: “It’s harder to lie and withhold information and it’s easier to tell the truth.
Asked if a cheque from Mr Trump would help them, Mrs Charles said: “No it’s not. It’s not going to bring Harry back.
“Justice has to be done. They all need to learn that this can’t happen again and they need to learn that things need to be put into place to stop this.
“No-one should suffer over and above the loss of a loved one. It’s enough to cope with that but it’s absolutely the last thing we want.
“We’re doing it because we’d be letting other people down if we didn’t and we’d be letting Harry down if we didn’t.”
Asked if their position had changed on how they wanted the case resolved, Harry’s father told PA: “Of all the things that are going on, for me – she still comes back to the UK and faces the justice system.
“Why are they not just coming out with the information with how this has happened?
“I don’t understand why they are making us fight for this information – it doesn’t make any sense to me at all.”
Despite the family’s objectives remaining the same, Mr Seiger told PA their legal fight was only just beginning – saying it was clear that the US administration were “expecting to pay the bill”.
“So clearly the government are expecting to pay the bill.
“It was almost as if he let it slip out. When he said ‘we’ve got the driver here’, he basically meant we’re all going to have a big hug and a kiss and I’ll get my Treasury guy to write a cheque.
“That’s how it was. On the day it just didn’t register with me but the more I think about those words, the more shocking it is.
“In not so many words, he turned to Robert O’Brien and he said something like ‘the Treasury are all lined up to get the cheque ready aren’t they Robert?’ – or words to that effect.”
