Urgent calls to stop 'rivers of blood' from crashes near US military bases

13 December 2023 , 21:29

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Nurse Elizabeth Donowho (Image: PA)

A lawyer has demanded urgent action to stop the “river of blood” stemming from road accidents involving American military personnel near US bases.

Radd Seiger, who represents the family of Harry Dunn and latest crash victim Elizabeth Donowho, revealed he is dealing with more than 10 cases among “thousands”. Ms Donowho, 56, a nurse, was left unable to walk for six weeks after a collision in July involving US citizen Isaac Calderon, who was visiting an SAS base in Herefordshire.

Mr Calderon, 22, fled the UK in November, six days before he was due at Kidderminster magistrates court after being charged with causing injury by dangerous driving. His occupation was given as “American soldier”. West Mercia police are said to have told Ms Donowho he was “associated with the Secret Service”. Authorities are working to him return to the UK to face justice.

Harry Dunn (PA)

It follows the death of motorcyclist Harry Dunn, 19, hit in August 2019 by US spook Anne Sacoolas, who was driving on the wrong side of the road outside RAF Croughton, Northants. She fled the UK using diplomatic immunity, sparking an extradition row before later pleading guilty from the US via videolink to careless driving. She was sentenced to eight months, suspended for 12, but did not return to the UK.

Mr Seiger said that since Mr Dunn’s death, lots more cases had “come out of the woodwork” – mostly to do with “bad driving on the part of Americans”.

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He said: “Harry Dunn was by no means the first victim of terrible American driving, nor tragically has he been the last. It is [the British and American authorities’] first duty to keep us safe, and they have failed Harry’s family, Elizabeth and thousands of others. It is an absolute scandal, and we have called for a public inquiry. Something must now be done to stem the river of blood flowing on the roads outside US bases, and both governments need to be held to account.”

Mr Seiger added he had been assured systems had been put in place so that no American would ever left the country again as Anne Sacoolas did. He said: “We were given that assurance by James Cleverly, who was Foreign Secretary at the time, and his officials so something has gone very badly wrong here.”

Radd Seiger (Roland Leon Daily Mirror)

The issue of accidents involving US military personnel has concerned MPs for decades. In 1983 the late Willie Hamilton asked for an amendment to the Visiting Forces Act of 1952, which means visiting forces are subject only to the sending state’s military courts and not British courts.

In May 2020, the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps agreed with Mr Seiger and Mr Dunn’s family that there should be a full safety review outside US bases.

Mr Calderon’s dad Manuel, of Humble, Texas, said his son was part of the American National Guard, serving “a few weeks a year”, and had been employed in a UK warehouse.

Christopher Bucktin