Two men who were passengers in the car when PC Andrew Harper was killed in 2019 will be released early from prison.
Uproar over the potential for Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole’s early release led to Prime Minister Andy Burnham pausing the scheme – which aimed to relieve extreme pressure on the prison system – last month.
But following a review, the two men will be freed after all – though around 1,000 rapists, child sex offenders and criminals linked to grooming gangs will now remain in prison.
Henry Long, who was driving the car as PC Harper was dragged for more than a mile to his death, was not eligible for early release.
PC Harper’s mother Debbie told Newsnight: ‘It feels like we’re letting Andrew down again.
‘We’ve been through the justice system, we thought we’d done as best we could, and now we’re standing up to fight again.’
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She added that she feels ‘really let down’ for her son’s sake and her own.
Justice Secretary Alex Norris said he spoke to Debbie and PC Harper’s widow Lissie last night, and apologised to both.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘At the moment, we’d run out of prison places in October or November. We can’t allow that to happen.
‘So we’re making significant changes to make sure that long-term future of having proper prison capacity in this country, but I appreciate, as they say, that they shouldn’t be the ones who as a result are impacted.’
Writing in the Telegraph, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he ‘wanted to go even further’ in keeping different categories of prisoners locked up.
He said: ‘I have pushed to the very limits of what is possible to do.
‘I know I can look people in the eye and say to them there is nothing more I could have asked for without risking the prison system reaching capacity and collapsing within months.’
What happened to PC Andrew Harper?
Long, Bowers and Cole were found not guilty of PC Harper’s murder but convicted of manslaughter in 2020, with Long sentenced to 16 years in prison and the other two given 13 years each.
All three were teenagers when PC Harper – who had married Lissie only one month before – responded to reports of an attempted quad bike theft.
As the group tried to make their getaway, the 28-year-old police officer’s ankles became entangled in a crane strap attached to the boot of Long’s Seat Toledo.
Long then drove off at ‘breakneck’ speed along country lanes, with PC Harper ‘swung side-to-side like a pendulum in an effort to dislodge him’ according to the trial.
Each of the three denied knowing the officer was caught on the back of the vehicle, calling it a ‘freak event’ – but the prosecution said they would have been aware ‘without a shadow of a doubt’ that PC Harper, who was more than 6ft tall and weighed 14 stone, was being dragged to his death.
In sentencing, judge Mr Justice Edis took the unusual step of acknowledging the jury’s decision had ’caused some controversy’.
The criminals were seen hugging each other and grinning broadly outside court after being cleared of murder.
Speaking outside the court, Lissie Harper said she was ‘immensely disappointed’ with the verdict.
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