Burnham orders justice chief to keep PC Harper killers behind bars

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has ordered Justice Secretary Alex Norris to find a way to prevent the killers of PC Andrew Harper from being released early, after mounting public fury over government plans to ease prison overcrowding. Burnham is said to be confident that a solution can be found to exclude Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter over the 2019 killing of the 28-year-old Thames Valley Police officer. Under sentencing changes introduced this year, the pair could become eligible for release next January after serving half their sentences. Downing Street had previously warned that it would not be possible to simply exempt “one or two offenders” convicted of manslaughter, because doing so could have consequences for hundreds of other prisoners with similar convictions.

Nearly 900,000 demand killers stay in prison

Harper was killed in August 2019 when he was dragged behind a getaway car after responding to the theft of a quad bike in Berkshire. Cole and Bowers were found guilty of manslaughter but cleared of murder, while driver Henry Long received a 16-year sentence and is not eligible for the early-release scheme because he received an extended determinate sentence. Harper’s widow, Lissie Harper, has campaigned relentlessly for tougher punishment for those who kill emergency workers and successfully secured Harper’s Law, which introduced mandatory life sentences for such offences. She has also led calls for Cole and Bowers to remain behind bars, with a petition demanding that they be denied early release now approaching 900,000 signatures.

The government expects around 5,000 prisoners to be released under the wider sentencing changes as ministers struggle with overcrowded jails, although exemptions have already been introduced for offenders convicted of the most serious crimes, including rape, child sex offences and grooming. Burnham has reportedly been making daily calls while on holiday in an effort to resolve the Harper case, while police representatives have condemned the prospect of early release. Former police dog handler Chris Bushnell, who witnessed the aftermath of Harper’s death, described the possibility as “absolutely outrageous”, while Thames Valley Police Federation chair Aileen O’Connor said the public was “firmly on the wrong side” of the government’s policy. The government now faces the difficult task of finding a legal mechanism to keep Harper’s killers in prison without creating a wider exemption that could affect thousands of other offenders.

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Didn't we hear the same promise from Burnham when the Rochdale grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed was released from prison? Burnham said he will talk to The home secretary Shabina Mahmood to look at every option on the table to get him deported. He is out of the spotlight now and not even mentioned.