Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I saw police partner, 28, dragged to his death
Trial told how PC tried to stop thieves
A POLICEMAN has told of the moment he saw his colleague dragged to his death as he tried to stop quad bike thieves.
Dashcam footage played in court showed the hunt for PC Andrew Harper after his feet were “whipped from under him” by a tow strap attached to the gang’s’ Seat Toledo.
The 28-year-old was pulled for more than a mile after getting entangled in the rope. Three teenagers deny murder.
PC Andrew Shaw said his partner got out of their unmarked BMW when they came head to head on a country lane with the Seat towing the stolen bike.
The footage shows the boy who was riding the bike running around one side of the police vehicle after detaching the tow strap. The Seat drives around the other side of the stationary patrol car.
PC Harper said the teen jumped into the Seat through a window as PC Harper chased him before getting caught up in the strap. He said: “I could see him running in the road. I thought he was trying to get to the open door, drag them out of the car.
“As the car accelerated
PC Harper just appeared to fall back as if his feet had been whipped from under him and that’s pretty much the last I saw of him.”
The newly married officer died from catastrophic injuries at the scene in Sulhamstead, Berks, on August 15, 2019.
The video played at the Old Bailey showed PC Shaw frantically turning his car around, chasing after the thieves and driving past PC Harper’s stab vest lying in the road. He is asked to confirm the location before another officer states: “There is a body in the road, body in the road. Just fell out of the vehicle.”
The video ends with PC Shaw rushing over to join an officer standing over PC Harper, who was lying in the road.
Seat driver Henry Long, 18, and two 17-year-olds admit conspiring to steal the bike but deny murder. Long, of Reading, admits manslaughter, which his co-accused deny.
The officers were responding to a burglary near Stanford Dingley, Berks, after 11pm.
They had been due to finish at 7pm but due to a surveillance job they were not stood down until 10pm. The trial
continues.