PM ‘to explore every option' to block early release of PC Harper’s killers

The prime minister is considering blocking PC Andrew Harper’s killers from being released early from prison, it has been reported, after he previously suggested he would not be able to keep them behind bars.

PC Andrew Harper, 28, was fatally injured in 2019, when he got caught in a strap attached to the back of a car while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire.

He was dragged down a country road as the three teenage suspects, including passengers Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, fled the scene of the burglary.

Cole and Bowers were convicted of manslaughter in 2020, and under current plans, are eligible to be freed halfway through their 13-year sentences.

Prime minister Andy Burnham is prepared to “explore every option” to keep them both in prison, a government source told the Telegraph on Friday.

The government has so far resisted pressure to exempt the two killers from its early release scheme, which will start in October in a bid to tackle prison overcrowding.

PC Harper was 28 when he was fatally injured while on duty / Credit:

Burnham said earlier this week he had “pushed to the very limits of what is possible to do without risking the prison system reaching capacity and collapsing” by excluding sentences for “rape, serious child sex offences and other grooming offences” from eligibility.

Around 5,000 people are expected to be released early under the scheme, down from 6,000 after the exemptions were announced as part of an urgent review.

PC Harper’s family have expressed anger and disappointment at the decision not to exempt Cole and Bowers from the plans, with his mum Debbie Adlam telling ITV News she was “devastated” by the news.

“It’s a different kind of thing that I’m dealing with. We’ve been so much, the pain is always there, so it’s not like it’s new pain specifically,” she said.

“We’ve got to keep going. Where we thought our task was done, it seems that we’ve still got further to go. And everything’s done in Andrew’s name and everything’s done for justice for him.”

Henry Long, who was driving the car, received a 16-year sentence and will not be eligible for release.

The early release changes are part of the Sentencing Act, which passed earlier this year and cut the minimum amount of time many offenders would have to spend in prison.

Those freed will face tougher probation conditions, including electronic monitoring, random drug testing and possible bans from driving, pubs and events such as football matches.