Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a U.S. diplomat, has been given an eight month jail term, but suspended for 12 months for causing the death of a teenager by careless driving in England.

Harry Dunn, 19, died in August 2019 in a fatal crash after Sacoolas' car hit his motorcycle near RAF Croughton, an air force base in the English county of Northamptonshire used by the U.S. military.

Sacoolas, whose husband worked as a U.S. intelligence officer at the site, left the UK shortly after the accident, claiming diplomatic immunity from criminal prosecution.

After submitting a guilty plea in October, Sacoolas did not attend her sentencing at London's Old Bailey central criminal court, appearing instead by videolink from the U.S.

In court, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson said a witness at the scene of the accident had recounted how Dunn repeatedly said "don't let me die".

He said Sacoolas had admitted after the accident that it was her fault and she had been on the wrong side of the road, telling police she had been driving on "the American side."

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In a statement from Sacoolas, read out by her lawyer, she said that she lived with "regret every single day."

She added: "There is not a day that goes by that Harry isn't on my mind, and I am deeply sorry for the pain that I have caused."

Alongside handing Sacoolas a suspended prison sentence, which means she does not need to face jail time, the judge also ruled that she was disqualified from driving for 12 months.

The fatal accident and Sacoolas' decision to flee the UK led to a diplomatic spat between London and Washington, with the U.S. refusing to extradite Sacoolas while the UK backed calls for her to be tried.

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Sacoolas's lawyers informed the court before sentencing that Washington had advised her not to attend in person as it "could place significant U.S. interests at risk."

She read out a statement from Sacoolas's U.S. lawyer which said: "The U.S. government does not in any way support Mrs Sacoolas appearing in person at this hearing. In fact, Mrs Sacoolas' U.S. government employer has advised her not to attend."