PC Andrew Harper's killers to remain in prison as Andy Burnham announces changes to early release scheme

Jessie Cole (left) and Albert Bowers, two of Pc Andrew Harper’s killers (Thames Valley Police/PA) PA Media Matt Watts , News Editor 2 minutes ago COMMENTS PC Andrew Harper’s killers will be excluded from the early release scheme after Prime Minister Andy Burnham said anyone convicted of unlawful killing would be exempt.

Mr Burnham said “hundreds” of people will remain in prison as part of changes to the scheme designed to ease prison overcrowding.

He told the BBC: “We’ve come up with a proposal which will allow not just those guilty of manslaughter, the people involved in the killing of PC Harper, but those who have been convicted for indecent assault, those convicted for death by dangerous driving, all of these offenders now will remain in prison. Hundreds of them.

Pc Andrew Harper and his widow Lissie Harper (Thames Valley Police/PA) PA Media “I heard obviously what Andrew Harper’s family were saying, I mean who couldn’t? Nobody would want a position to arise where those guilty of killing a police officer are let out early from prison.”

He said extra space in prisons would be created by deporting foreign prisoners and releasing some inmates who are serving indefinite sentences.

The Prime Minister ordered a review of the scheme, which is being undertaken by Justice Secretary Alex Norris and is set to be published when Parliament returns from summer recess in September.

That followed widespread condemnation of the scheme when it emerged Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole could be released halfway through their 13-year sentences.

They were passengers in the car that dragged Pc Harper down a country road after he got caught in a strap attached to the vehicle as they fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in 2019.