Police launch legal fight over PC Harper killers' early release

Police launch fight against early release

The Police Federation has vowed to mount a legal challenge to stop two of PC Andrew Harper's killers being released early, as Prime Minister Andy Burnham faces mounting political pressure over the controversial sentencing policy.

Federation Chair Tiff Lynch said the organisation would "throw everything" at blocking the release, promising to instruct leading King's Counsel and barristers in a bid to overturn the decision.

The move comes after ministers confirmed that thousands of prisoners will qualify for early release under the new Sentencing Act, including two of the three men convicted over the killing of the Thames Valley police officer.

Widow brands decision a 'gut punch'

PC Harper's widow, Lissie Harper, delivered a scathing attack on the Government, describing the decision as a "secondary gut punch" inflicted not by criminals, but by those in power.

She said her husband had never received true justice after the courts handed down what she described as "pitiful" sentences, adding that releasing his killers early would only deepen the family's pain.

Lissie accused ministers of making "absurd" decisions because prisons are overcrowded and warned the policy sends a dangerous message that Britain is becoming increasingly weak on crime.

"The people making these decisions should be utterly ashamed of themselves," she said.

Police morale hit by controversial policy

Senior policing figures have also lined up against the early release scheme.

Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Jason Hogg said he was considering joining the Police Federation's legal action, describing the prospect of the killers being freed early as "perverse."

He warned the decision risks seriously damaging confidence in the criminal justice system and said many serving officers simply cannot understand why offenders responsible for killing a police officer should benefit from early release.

Hogg also expressed concern about the impact on morale across policing, saying officers who risk their lives daily feel badly let down.

Public anger gathers pace

The backlash has spread far beyond the police service.

A petition launched by the Police Federation calling for the decision to be reversed has already passed 100,000 signatures, highlighting growing public opposition to the policy.

PC Harper's mother, Debbie Adlam, said the family was "bitterly disappointed," insisting her son deserved far better.

The Government's revised early release scheme is expected to free around 5,000 prisoners after ministers excluded rapists and child sex offenders following widespread criticism.

Ministers defend difficult decision

Justice Secretary Alex Norris admitted ministers had wanted to exempt more serious offenders but argued the prison estate simply could not cope.

He acknowledged the distress caused to victims' families and confirmed he had personally apologised to relatives, including the Harper family.

Norris said previous governments had failed to provide enough prison places, leaving ministers with difficult choices if the system was to remain operational.

The Government has pledged to build 14,000 additional prison places by 2031.

A case that still resonates

PC Andrew Harper was killed in 2019 while responding to the theft of a quad bike in Berkshire. He became caught in a tow strap attached to a getaway vehicle and was dragged for more than a mile along a country road.

Driver Henry Long received a 16-year sentence and is not eligible for early release under the new scheme.

However, his accomplices Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, who received shorter sentences, now qualify for release years earlier than many expected.

With legal action now looming and public anger continuing to grow, the Government faces an increasingly fierce battle over one of its most controversial criminal justice decisions.

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4 hours ago, Social Media said:

Norris said previous governments had failed to provide enough prison places, leaving ministers with difficult choices if the system was to remain operational.

2 years. That's how long Labour has been in government.

8 days. That's how long it took a Trump government to build a detention camp in Florida that can hold up to 3000 detainees.

Maybe I could accept blame on prior governments in the first month or two, but not after two years. Maybe I could even accept it if they just let out the social media hurty word posters a bit earlier. But actual killers who showed no remorse that they took someones life, that forced a trial and then laughed as they received their sentence? Who committed a crime so bad that the law was changed so that any repeat of the crime they committed against a police officer in future will be a mandatory life sentence. This is who they are going to let out early due to their incompetence? No doubt the useful idiots will be along soon to defend this insanity.

Anyone who murders a member of the Emergency Services is given a mandatory life sentance. Yes as Jame's says past governments can be blamed for mothballing and closing prisons without replacing them, however labour under Starmer did nothing to build new prisons. There are over 10 thousand foreighn prisoners held here in the UK. You don't have to be a Justice minister to think ok get these out and away back to there own country so they can serve there sentance there, but no, we now have murders's let out early, thieve's and other less dangerouse laggs released early. Most last year released earlty were recalled back to prison within day's. First get the foreign prisoners kicked out of English jails, build new prisons immediatly or spend a bit of cash and bring back prisons closed down.