Andy Burnham has said he will pause Labour’s plan to release prisoners early.
‘No prisoners will be let out under this policy until we have conducted an urgent review and done everything we can to minimise risk to the public.
‘Where changes are needed, we will not hesitate to make them,’ the new Prime Minister said.
The scheme was due to start in September and would have seen the early release of Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers who were in the car that dragged PC Harper to his death in 2019.
It comes after the constable’s widow Lissie Harper criticised the early release scheme as ‘deplorable’.
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PC Harper was 28 years old when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019.
The driver of the vehicle which caused PC Harper’s death, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence, and will not be eligible for the scheme.
Early release could be on the cards for Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were passengers in the car and handed 13 years in custody for manslaughter after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2020.
Both men might now be eligible to be released from prison after serving half of their sentences, rather than two-thirds.
Under the new Sentencing Act, set to come into force in September, some 6,000 criminals are set to be released under the early prison release scheme.