Petition to keep PC Andrew Harper’s killers in jail passes one million signatures

The pressure is mounting on Andy Burnham to prevent their early release.

PC Harper, 28, was responding to reports of a quad bike theft in Berkshire in 2019 when he became caught in a strap attached to the back of a car and dragged down a country road as three teenage suspects fled. Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter, are due to be freed in January, halfway through their sentences. Thames Valley Police Federation launched the petition last week, condemning as “outrageous” the decision not to include the pair.

Pressure on Andy Burnham over the PC Andrew Harper case

Downing Street has faced sustained backlash with Cole and Bowers set to be released early, even with the announcement of an expemption for some including serious sex offenders. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Tuesday he was “increasingly confident” that work to increase space in the prison system “will allow us to reduce the number of people released early and, in the case of the most serious offenders like those convicted of the killing of PC Harper, prevent their early release altogether”.

Aileen O’Connor, chair of Thames Valley Police Federation, wrote in the petition that the decision "pours salt into wounds that have never healed."

Justice Secretary Alex Norris has been asked to find ways of keeping “a greater number of the most serious offenders” behind bars, with plans due when Parliament returns in September, four months before the pair are due to walk free.