‘Stay with me... keep breathing’

A COLLEAGUE of PC Andrew Harper begged the fallen officer to ‘stay with me, keep breathing’ as he lay dying in a country lane.

A witness told of the heartbreaking scenes as fellow officers fought to save the 28-yearold, after he was mown down while responding to reports of a burglary.

The householder, who asked not to be named, came out of his home around 11.30pm on Thursday after hearing a commotion in a lane off the A4 near Reading.

As police worked inside forensic tents near the property yesterday, the witness said: ‘When I came outside I could see one patrol car facing the A4 and the other facing in the other direction. The officer’s crewmate was shouting, saying “Stay with me, stay with me. Keep breathing.” Those words will stay with me.

‘He was crouched over the officer’s body, which was lying on the lane.

‘Ambulances and more police cars arrived – it was like the Blackpool illuminations. I went out into the lane to see if the police needed any help and an officer turned to me and said, “Leave the area – this is a crime scene.”’

Asked if there was a police pursuit in the run-up to PC Harper being hit by the vehicle, Thames Valley Police Chief Constable John Campbell said only that his fallen officer had been involved in a ‘response to a reported burglary’.

Mr Campbell said PC Harper was a ‘highly regarded, popular member of the team’ who was known across the force.

He said the traffic officer – based at Abingdon, Oxfordshire, around 30 miles from where the incident happened – had been outside his marked patrol car when he was ‘dragged along by a vehicle’, in what was ‘obviously a very distressing’ incident for the colleagues who witnessed it.

Mr Campbell said it had been ‘an extremely dark day’ for his force – and said the fact PC Harper had only been married four weeks added to the force’s ‘angst’ and to that of PC Harper’s family.

He declined to say if the vehicle which hit PC Harper, who joined the force as a special constable in 2010 and became a police officer a year later, was stolen.

The force’s flags were flying at half-mast as a sign of respect ‘in honour and memory of Andrew’, he said, adding: ‘The officer was well-known across the force so it is felt very personally... by the whole police family.’

The incident took place at the crossroads of Ufton Lane and Lambdens Hill, near the village of Sulhamstead – close to Bucklebury where the Duchess of Cambridge’s parents Carole and Michael Middleton live.

Andy Fiddler, from the Thames Valley Police Federation, added: ‘This is totally devastating news.

‘All our thoughts – and the thoughts of the entire police family across the UK – are with the family, friends and close colleagues of PC Andrew Harper.’

Last night, Anthony Stansfeld, Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner, said: ‘I speak for everybody at Thames Valley Police when I say that I am deeply shocked and saddened by the death of PC Andrew Harper while on duty.

‘Today, assaults on police officers have become far too common.

‘I am concerned that attacks on police officers are no longer regarded within some communities with the same level of seriousness as they were previously. In the past, most criminals were careful not to attack a police officer. But as sentences across the board have become more lenient, so the number of assaults increased.’