PC’S WIDOW: A STEP NEARER TO JUSTICE
Lissie to fight on after court told killer should be serving life term
THE widow of tragic PC Andrew Harper said she felt “a step closer to a fair outcome” after the Attorney General called for one of his killers to be jailed for life yesterday.
Lissie Harper lost her husband of four weeks when he was dragged to his death behind a car in August last year, aged 28, while responding to a call.
And the devastated 29-year-old was outraged by their sentences.
Driver Henry Long, 19, was cleared of murder and jailed for 16 years for manslaughter – meaning he may be out in 11. Passengers Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who got 13 years for manslaughter, could be out in eight.
Attorney General Suella Braverman QC referred the terms to the Court of Appeal and said yesterday the killing in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, was “as serious a case of manslaughter as it is possible to envisage”.
Mrs Braverman told judges: “PC Harper paid the ultimate price for his bravery and this should be reflected in the sentence.” Referring to Long’s term, she added: “A life sentence was the appropriate sentence... if not in a case such as this, then when?”
Lissie – campaigning for Harper’s Law, meaning killers of emergency workers get life – welcomed the call and vowed to continue her “battle for justice”. She said outside court: “Reaching a step closer to a fair outcome is something I have strived towards for a long time. We have all hoped and prayed our beloved boy’s death will not go improperly punished. So we continue our agonising battle for justice.”
Mrs Braverman had said Long’s term was “contrary to the interests of justice”. She also said the sentencing judge gave “too great a reduction” in prison sentence to Bowers and Coles “for their age and learning difficulties”.
At the same hearing, lawyers for the trio applied for permission to appeal the length of their sentences, arguing they were “manifestly excessive”.
The court will rule at a later date.
Being a step closer to a fair outcome is something I have strived towards for a long time
LISSIE HARPER ON THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S COMMENTS YESTERDAY