Another kick in the stomach
As killers appeal days after being jailed, PC’s family brand it...
PC Andrew Harper’s heartbroken mother last night described an appeal by two of her son’s killers against their manslaughter convictions as a ‘ kick in the stomach’.
Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, both 18, have lodged applications with the Court of Appeal to challenge the convictions and their 13-year jail sentences.
They were jailed on July 31 alongside Henry Long, 19, for killing the Thames Valley Police officer when their getaway car dragged him to his death after his ankle became caught in its trailing tow rope.
PC Harper’s mother Debbie Adlam is still reeling from a jury’s decision to clear the trio of her son’s murder, and it is just five days since the first anniversary of his death.
‘It’s been the most painful year of my life and the trial was absolutely gruelling,’ she said.
‘We clearly didn’t get the justice that we all felt that we deserved – but this application to appeal both conviction and sentence is a further kick in the stomach.
‘We will obviously have to leave it up to the judicial system, but I’d like to think that I do not live in a country where people can be involved in taking a life whilst committing a crime and be allowed to walk away from it and serve anything other than a lengthy custodial sentence.’
The appeal comes as the officer’s widow, Lissie, 29, launched the Harper’s Law campaign for automatic life sentences for those convicted of killing emergency service workers.
She has requested a meeting with Home Secretary Priti Patel and has been backed by the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents more than 120,000 rankand-file officers.
Long, Bowers and Cole, from a travelling community in Reading, killed PC Harper by dragging him for more than a mile over winding country lanes at high speeds on August 15 last year.
The traffic constable had been trying to stop them getting away with a stolen £10,000 quad bike.
The teenagers whooped and cheered over the videolink from Belmarsh Prison as they were cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter at the Old Bailey in July.
Long, the driver of the car who had previously admitted manslaughter, was jailed for 16 years and Cole and Bowers were given 13 years, sentences PC Harper’s widow and his family argue were far too lenient.
Mrs Harper, who married the officer just four weeks before his death, told the Daily Mail this week: ‘Nothing I do will bring Andrew back. But I know he would be proud of me for seeking to bring about a change in the law, which will hopefully act as a deterrent to anyone considering doing to one of his fellow frontline workers the terrible thing they did to him.’
The Attorney General has been asked to review the killers’ sentences and may refer the case to the Court of Appeal.
Mrs Harper said her campaign had received a huge amount of support. ‘I can’t tell you how many messages I’ve had from people saying, “yes, this needs to happen”,’ she added.
‘Sitting in court and witnessing it all and then getting to the verdict has just made me more determined to do something.’
Mrs Harper, a designer, said her late husband would want her to push for the reform.
No date has been set for the court hearing of the appeals by Bowers and Cole.
‘Determined to do something’