Harry Dunn: Disgraced police chief hampered investigation into teenager's death, report finds
A disgraced ex-chief constable had a 'detrimental' impact on the investigation into the death of Harry Dunn – including making erroneous media statements and causing a breakdown in relations with his family, a review has concluded.
The report said Nick Adderley, who was sacked in June last year after lying about serving in the Falklands War, was reprimanded by the Foreign Office for making inaccurate comments about suspect Anne Sacoolas's immunity status after she had left the UK.
Sacoolas eventually pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving via video link at the Old Bailey following three years of the Dunn family campaigning for justice, after she was able to leave the UK when diplomatic immunity was asserted on her behalf.
The independent review, published on Wednesday, concluded that there was a 'lack of co-ordination and adherence to APP (professional standards guidance)' under Mr Adderley's leadership.
The report said: 'The review found that while the investigation was well handled, elements of senior leadership were not.
'The was a lack of co-ordination and adherence to APP.
'There were clearly significant efforts being made to deal with the challenges that this unique set of circumstances presented, but the lack of clarity defined Gold group strategy, and co-ordination of all stakeholders has meant that at times, areas of business were acting independently of one another.'
The review continued: 'This is evidenced during an interview when Chief Constable Adderley suggested that Anne Sacoolas could make decisions around waiving her diplomatic status, which she couldn't.
'According to the FCO (Foreign Office), diplomatic immunity belongs to the sending state.
'This prompted the FCO to contact Northamptonshire Police and request CC Adderley did not repeat erroneous statements.
'There were also discrepancies within CC Adderley's press conference on 22 October 2019.
'Within the conference, information was provided to the national press which was inaccurate.
'The information was never sent to the SIO [senior investigating officer] for fact-checking prior to release.
'There was also a lack of appropriate recording and associated documentation in relation to high-level meetings such as minutes, strategy, tasking and action logs.'
Harry's mother, Charlotte Charles, told the PA news agency she remained 'angry' at Adderley for the way her family was treated during the investigation.
The review said the breakdown in relations between the Dunn family and the force because of Mr Adderley's actions was 'avoidable'.
It highlighted incidents such as a tweet from the disgraced ex-police chief, which showed him react to the family's intentions to sue Sacoolas in the US by saying: 'How sad but how predictable.'
The report continued: 'It would be remiss of the review not to highlight some of the difficulties faced by the SIO and investigation team as a direct result of the activities of CC Adderley.'
It said a strategy to implement a fresh family liaison policy was 'rendered almost redundant' by Adderley after he elected to speak and provide information to family spokesman Radd Seiger on X without informing the SIO.
The review said: 'This placed the SIO and investigation team in an unenviable position as they sought to regain the trust of the family.
'There were multiple areas of direct involvement from CC Adderley which had a detrimental impact on the SIO and investigation team's efforts to rebuild trust and confidence.'
It added: 'The review also found that any Gold group structure implemented by CC Adderley was not fit for purpose, not in line with APP, and ultimately was a significant contributing factor in the loss of confidence in Northamptonshire Police from Harry Dunn's family.'
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