Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Give him justice
What is the Unduly Lenient scheme? PC Harper’s mother is pleased his killers’ sentences will be reviewed
THE Attorney General’s Office operates the scheme, in which people can apply to have a sentence reviewed.
It is reserved for the most serious cases, including murder, rape and manslaughter.
Anyone can recommend a sentence be reviewed – even if they aren’t involved in the case – and only one person has to ask.
The request must be made within 28 days of sentencing. Once the Attorney General’s Office has reviewed the case, they may send it to the Court of Appeal, who can decide if the sentence should stay the same or be increased.
Scheme statistics for 2019 show 63 offenders had sentences increased.
In 2019, Law Officers received 577 applications for sentences to be reviewed that met the necessary criteria, and 16 criminals were imprisoned after having avoided prison time at their original sentencing hearing. sentences handed down, Debbie said: “We really felt that.
“I think because there were so many years knocked off for being of a certain age and for admitting manslaughter early on – the years they are going to do once they have taken out their allowances... to me that’s criminal.”
PC Harper’s widow Lissie, 29, told the Old Bailey how she has been plunged into a “lost and endless world of numb despair”.
PC Harper, 28, was caught in a strap and dragged for a mile behind Long’s car after trying to stop the gang taking a stolen quad bike in Berkshire last August.
Long swerved violently at speeds of up to 60mph.
PC Andrew Shaw, who was with PC Harper when he was dragged away and who found him dying on the roadside, delayed taking retirement before giving evidence.
PC Shaw stood in the dock while Bowers, Long and Cole, laughed and fell asleep as horrendous details of the death emerged.
Now – after stepping down from frontline duties after a 30-year career – he has been praised by chiefs. Det Chief Insp Stuart Blaik, of Thames Valley police, said: “PC Shaw has been an absolute rock.
“He extended his career so he could give evidence as an officer as opposed to a member of the public.”
Police have criticised the killers’ friends and family for protecting them. People at the caravan site where Cole, Bowers and Long were hiding, backed the trio’s claims they spent the night watching DVDS.
Det Chief Insp Blaik said: “We were frustrated by associates and families. That’s very disappointing.”