THE stepdad of tragic teenager Harry Dunn has developed coronavirus symptoms and is self isolating after Health Secretary Matt Hancock hugged him.
Bruce Charles blasted Mr Hancock, 41, for showing “little regard” for social distancing when they met last week as the Covid-19 crisis raged.
Harry, 19, was killed in August when his car collided with a motorbike in Northamptonshire.
Former CIA Agent Anne Sacoolas 42, left Britain on September 15 after she allegedly crashed into Harry outside RAF Croughton.
She was charged in December with causing the teenager’s death.
The US government claimed Sacoolas was the wife of one of their diplomats and had diplomatic immunity.
Mr Charles met Mr Hancock to discuss the ambulance delay before Harry died, but has been forced to isolate himself from Harry’s mum after meeting the Health Secretary.
“For him to have broken his own department’s rules in the meeting is beyond the pale. No wonder he is ill – having shown such little regard for the rules himself,” Mr Charles said.
“My main concern is Charlotte’s health. She suffers from severe asthma and that is why she did not come to the meeting.
“Earlier this morning I started to come down with symptoms which may be Covid-19.
“I was then hit with the news earlier this afternoon that Mr Hancock has tested positive for it.
“I am now left with no option but to isolate myself from her because of our encounter with Mr Hancock.
“It is an outrage and compounds our misery when we had otherwise been following all the rules.”
The UK’s coronavirus death toll rose by 181 to 759 in the biggest 24-hour jump so far. Already, 14,579 people are confirmed to have been infected in Britain.
The Health Secretary said his symptoms are mild and he is working from home and self-isolating until Thursday.
The Dunn family’s spokesman Radd Seiger said in their meeting Mr Hancock announced he had just been with the Prime Minister.
Mr Charles and Harry’s step-brother Ciaran Charles both attended the meeting with Mr Seiger.
Mr Seiger said: “He walked around the table and firstly gave Bruce and Ciaran a full-on hug followed by a handshake.
“I then walked past him and he went to give me a hug too. He managed to slip one arm around my back but I pulled away, fully aware of the need to engage in social distancing.
“I could not believe what I had just witnessed and the three of us then left, utterly bewildered at what just happened.
“We had all been dragged down to London, for a waste of a meeting, in highly dangerous circumstances, to be confronted by the Health Secretary of all people who breached his Government’s own protocol.”
Mr Seiger said he had also been forced to self-isolate.
He said: “The news has shocked me to the core.
“I am my wife’s carer as she has been very seriously ill and have three children who are all at home.
“I am appalled and disgusted that he should have behaved so recklessly and irresponsibly and jeopardised all our health.
“He would have had access to the same information at that time that we had – and he deliberately flouted it.
“He should have led from the front and either cancelled the meeting or held it by phone.”
