Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘Law needed to safeguard hedgehogs’
HEDGEHOGS need the same legal protection as red squirrels, bats and water voles, a charity says.
The British Hedgehog Preservation Society is urging the Government to add the species to those protected from deliberate killing and injuring under schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Last week hedgehogs were put on a new red list of British species at risk of extinction, published by the Mammal Society.
It estimated the population fell from 1.5 million in 1995 to 500,000 in 2018.
Hugh Warwick, a spokesman for the charity, said British law should oblige developers to ensure new buildings “weren’t killing hedgehogs”.
But he added: “This is not an attempt to stymie development.”
PC Andrew Harper’s heartbroken mum has welcomed the news his killers could have their prison terms increased.
The sentences are to be reviewed by the Attorney General, which Debbie Adlam said is the “right thing to do”.
She added: “We walked out from court... feeling so let down. Andrew deserves so much better.
“We can’t bring him back but we can hope there’s something... to give him the justice he deserves.” Henry Long, 19, and Albert
Bowers and Jessie
Cole, both 18, were jailed for manslaughter for a crime the judge described as being
“very close to murder in its seriousness”.
Long, who drove the car that dragged PC
Harper to his death, was sentenced to 16 years, meaning he may be out in less than 11.
Cole and Bowers, the passengers at the time, were each jailed for 13 years, so they could be out in eight.
Speaking about the killers’ joy in court at being convicted of manslaughter rather than murder, Debbie said: “That was very insulting. To see them jumping and celebrating was hard enough. They got away with it really.
“But now hopefully the sentence can be increased to something that is a little more realistic for the crime that they’ve committed.
“Losing Andrew has been above and beyond what we could even imagine. It’s knocked us sideways.”
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office confirmed it has received a request for the jail terms to be looked at under the “unduly lenient” sentence scheme.
Asked if she would use the phrase “unduly lenient” to describe the