Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘For ever dressed in blue’
Poem by wife of PC Harper reveals pain she still feels
PC Andrew Harper’s widow revealed the “pain every time I awaken” in a poem at a memorial marking the first anniversary of his death.
Thames Valley Police officers gathered yesterday for a series of services to mark the tragedy a year ago today.
In her poem, read at Newbury Police Station, Berks, Lissie Harper described her newlywed husband as “kind and strong without venom or greed”.
It continued: “The whole world knows your name and the life that was taken. Yet it’s me that feels the pain every time I awaken.
“The friendliest giant, you became known to all.
“Many hearts were broken when they heard of your fall. They will remember you now, so honest and true.
“King among men, for ever dressed in blue. You’re a hero now my boy don’t you see. The truth is my love, you always were to me, Lissie.”
PC Harper, 28, died after he became tangled in a strap attached to a car as he tried to stop three teenagers stealing a quad bike in Berkshire on August 15 last year.
He was dragged for a mile and fatally injured.
Around 20 officers at a time gathered outside the Newbury station for two socially distanced memorials.
Simultaneous services were held in Abingdon, Oxon, and at a police training centre in Sulhamstead, Berks, attended by members of PC Harper’s family.
His mum Debbie Adlam, 53, said: “It was really emotional, acknowledging the year is here tomorrow.”
In Newbury, Inspector Al Hawkett said: “We have all been deeply affected by Andrew’s death, whether we knew him personally or not.
“The senseless loss of a colleague is hard enough, but being newly married made his death all the more heart-breaking. “Andrew was a brave young police officer, killed whilst doing the job that he loved.”
As well as the memorials, officers across the Thames Valley area held a minute’s silence. Henry Long, 19, and Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, both 18, were jailed for manslaughter after being cleared of murder charges.
Long, who drove the car, was sentenced to 16 years, but could be released in less than 11.
Cole and Bowers were jailed for 13 years and could be out in eight.
The terms could be increased, after they were referred to the Attorney General.
Debbie Adlam is campaigning for an “Andrew’s Law ”to make all police killers to serve a minimum 20 years.