How PC Andrew Harper’s case changed the government’s early release planspublished at 06:53 BST
Image source, Thames Valley Police/PA WirePC Andrew Harper, 28, from Wallingford, Oxfordshire, died in 2019 when he was dragged behind the getaway car of three teenagers who had fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Berkshire.
Two of the teenagers, Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, were sentenced to 13 years in prison for manslaughter in July 2020.
According to an earlier version of the government program, the two men would have been eligible for early release after serving half their sentences.
But over the summer the government came under pressure after PC Harper’s family launched a high-profile campaign against their early release. His mother, Debbie Adlam, described the planned early release of his killers as “a slap in the face and an insult”.
Fifty British police chiefs have called for emergency legislation to prevent their release.
In August, Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced changes to the early release program to keep Bowers and Cole behind bars. Anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including any form of manslaughter, would be excluded from the program, he said.
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