The family of British teenager Harry Dunn has described Donald Trump as “very graceful” after meeting with the US president at the White House.

But the teenager’s parents said they are no “further along” after being told that the US woman allegedly responsible for their son’s death would not return to the UK.

Anne Sacoolas left the UK after the crash in Northamptonshire which killed the 19-year-old in August.

Tim Dunn, Harry’s father, said: “I think the president was very graceful and spoke very well to us.”

“Obviously we’ve just met the president and we never thought we’d get this far but I don’t know whether we’re any further along.”

Harry’s mother, Charlotte Charles, said: “When he (President Trump) held my hand, I gripped it a lot tighter and I was honest with him and just said, as I said a while ago, ‘if it was your son you would be doing the same as us’.

“He actually gripped my hand a little bit tighter and said ‘Yes, I would be’.

“And that’s when he said he would try and look at this from a different angle.

“He seemed to understand that our grief has been locked in for seven weeks now on a case that should have been very, very clear-cut.”

Mr Dunn said: “He listened to Charlotte very well – she spoke excellently to him and he was very understanding.

“I genuinely do think he will look to resolve this in a way that will help us.”

Harry Dunn's family
Charlotte Charles, mother of Harry Dunn, who died after his motorbike was involved in an August 2019 accident in Britain with Anne Sacoolas, wife of an American diplomat, speaks at a news conference (Craig Ruttle/AP)

Harry’s father Tim Dunn said of turning down the chance to meet Anne Sacoolas at the White House: “We weren’t ready to meet her, it would have been too rushed.

But he added that the meeting “didn’t feel like a stunt – they didn’t try and force it onto us”.

Mrs Charles added: “But I don’t think it would be appropriate to meet her without therapists or mediators in the room.”