PC Andrew Harper’s devastated widow tells Burnham ‘you should be ashamed’ as she slams killers’ planned early release

THE widow of hero PC Andrew Harper described the planned early release of two of his killers as a “punch in the gut” — and told PM Andy Burnham: “You should be ashamed.”

Devastated Lissie Harper said she will “never give up” in her bid to have Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole exempted from a scheme to let out prisoners guilty of manslaughter halfway through their sentence.

And she has thrown her weight behind an online Thames Valley Police Federation petition to stop his killers being freed, which more than 400,000 people had signed on Wednesday evening.

The Federation is also taking legal action over their early release — a move the chief constable of PC Harper’s force confirmed that he was considering joining.

A poll for The Sun, meanwhile, revealed that 94 per cent of our readers want Andy Burnham to block the release of the two killers.

PC Harper died while investigating the theft of a £10,000 quad bike near Sulhamstead, Berks, in August 2019.

Bowers and Cole, then 17, tried to escape in a car driven by Henry Long, 18.

The 28-year-old officer’s ankles got caught in a heavy-duty tow strap and he suffered ­catastrophic ­injuries as he was dragged in the dark for more than a mile at an average 43mph.

Bowers and Cole were sentenced to 13 years in July 2020, meaning they could be released by October.

Long, the main perpetrator, who pleaded guilty, got 16 years and is not eligible for release under the scheme.

Lissie, who had married PC Harper just four weeks before the tragedy, said: “Hopefully we can make the current Government come to their senses and realise we cannot put people like this back on our streets.

“Justice should mean justice and serving the sentence given.

“The Government has punched us in the gut . . . they should be ashamed of themselves.”

She urged the public to put their names to the Police Federation’s ­petition, which is getting around 12,500 signatures an hour.

It is quadruple the 100,000 mark, the point at which petitions are considered for debate in Parliament.

Lissie, of Wallingford, Oxfordshire, said: “Please sign our petition . . . we will never give up.”

The Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Jason Hogg said he was receiving legal advice on whether the force could join the challenge.

He said: “This is something I ­certainly would consider.

“I do think that the public opinion is overwhelming in this matter.

“I think it’s unfair and I do believe confidence in the criminal justice ­system risks being damaged.

“It’s right for the Government to have a look at this.”

He said it was “perverse” that ­Bowers and Cole were eligible for release and said the knowledge they were has had a “profound” effect on his 10,000 officers and staff.

He said he was “beyond disappointed” the Government was allowing Cole and Bowers to walk free early.

Chief Constable Hogg stressed there was a loophole in the justice system.

He said Harper’s Law, for which Lissie fought and which is named for PC Harper, means anyone convicted of the manslaughter of an on-duty emergency worker gets a mandatory life term.

He said that would be Cole and Bowers’ fate if convicted.

He has written to Andy Burnham demanding emergency legislation to close the loophole which enables the pair to be freed.

Aileen O’Connor, who chairs the Thames Valley Police Federation, said letting the two out would anger and demoralise serving officers.

She said: “I will throw everything I can at this through a proper legal challenge. Our colleagues will accept nothing less. It is a final betrayal from the politicians.”

She thanked all those who have signed the petition, adding: “I couldn’t believe in my wildest dreams that we would have reached that amount of ­signatures in such a short space of time.

“The Government need to listen and to be on the right side of this” Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said she supported the Federation.

She said: “I’m not arguing against early release. We’ve had early release even under Conservatives.

“I’m against early release of this dangerous category of rapists, ­paedophiles, killers, including the killers of PC Andrew Harper.”

She told The Sun: “It doesn’t have to be like this. In 14 years of Conservative government we never let rapists, paedophiles and killers out early.

“In fact, we made sure any early release was after two-thirds of a ­sentence. Labour have now lowered that to just one third.”

PM Mr Burnham, currently on his summer holiday, is facing mounting pressure to exclude the killers of emergency workers as part of the initiative to free up prison spaces.

Some 5,000 criminals will be released over ten months from October. After the Government re-considered the scheme those convicted of rape, ­serious child sexual offences and grooming will be excluded.

However, justice minister Jake ­Richards confirmed Bowers and Cole would remain subject to early release.

He argued: “It would be wrong to pick out individual cases within different offending cohorts.

“That wouldn’t be right. It wouldn’t be lawful either. I understand the strength of feeling from police ­officers generally, but of course within that force in particular after the awful incident with PC Harper.

“If we do not have prison places available then the police, the good work that they do every day on the streets, finding perpetrators, locking them up, it would be impossible.”

Credit: The Sun