Widow of killed PC criticised early release scheme

 

Widow of killed PC criticised early release scheme

published at 16:06 23 July

16:06 23 July

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c142jmxr5x6t

 

Lissie Harper described the possible early release of prisoners as "deplorable"

 

Andy Burnham's announcement today comes after the widow of PC Andrew Harper described the possible early release of prisoners as "deplorable".

 

PC Harper, 28, was killed in 2019 when he was dragged by a car down a country road as three teenagers fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Berkshire.

 

His mother recently received a letter from the Ministry of Justice warning that two of the killers - Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers - could be set free early.

 

PC Harper's wife, Lissie, said politicians were "making decisions from behind a desk that will have real and lasting consequences" for the families of victims.

 

Cole and Bowers were sentenced to 13 years in custody for manslaughter but could have been released early under the new Sentencing Act.

 

As our correspondent Dominic Casciani explains in the next post, they could have been eligible for early release from June next year.

 

Henry Long - who drove the car that dragged PC Harper - is not eligible for the release scheme because he received a more severe type of extended sentence that was excluded from the reforms.