Teenagers ‘dragged officer to his death’
A Pc who answered a 999 call after his shift should have finished was dragged more than a mile to his death after his feet caught in straps used by thieves to tow a stolen quad bike, a jury was told. Pc Andrew Harper, 28, was left with “catastrophic, unsurvivable injuries” after he was swung around like a pendulum behind the car as the teenagers inside deliberately drove from side to side in a bid to dislodge him, the prosecution in the murder trial of three teenagers alleged.
Crime Correspondent
A POLICE officer was dragged for more than a mile to his death after his feet became lassoed by a crane strap used by three armed teenage thieves to tow a stolen quad bike, a court heard.
Pc Andrew Harper, 28, had his police uniform “ripped and stripped” from his body as he was pulled along a country lane for 90 seconds at speeds in excess of 40mph.
The gang deliberately drove from side to side, as Pc Harper was swung like a pendulum, in a bid to dislodge him, a jury was told.
When he finally became disentangled from the strap he was left with “absolutely catastrophic, unsurvivable injuries” and died in the road, surrounded by colleagues who tried in vain to save him.
Henry Long, 18, and two 17-yearolds, who cannot be named, are accused of murdering the officer, by being fully aware he was dragged behind them as they tried to escape.
Opening the case against them at the Old Bailey, Brian Altman QC said: “This was a completely senseless killing of a young police officer in the line of duty.”
The prosecutor went on: “He died totally naked apart from his socks and boots and some shredded remnants of the trousers he was wearing.”
Mr Harper’s widow, Lissie, 29, was in court to hear the details of her husband’s harrowing final moments.
Mr Altman said Pc Harper – known as “Harps” by colleagues – was a roads policing officer with Thames Valley Police and had only been working for the unit for six weeks when he was killed.
‘It is the prosecution case that Long drove that car knowing full well Constable Harper was entangled in the strap’
On the evening of Aug 15 last year, he and a colleague, Pc Andrew Shaw, were returning to their base in Abingdon, when they responded to a report of a burglary at a secluded property near Bradfield Southend in West Berkshire. “Despite it being well beyond the end of their shift, because they were close and thought they could help, they responded to the call. It was a decision that was to cost Andrew Harper his life,” Mr Altman said.
Earlier that day, a homeowner spotted a group of masked men in a car on the edge of his driveway looking in the direction of his £10,000 quad bike. At around 11.15pm, he was woken by headlights shining through his home’s window and saw a group of men making off with the quad bike.
The court heard how after responding to the 999 call, the officers approached the scene in their unmarked BMW and came “nose to nose” with a Seat car being driven by Mr Long. When police later searched the boot of the Seat car they recovered three crowbars, a large axe, a pair of choppers, a hammer and a pipe, which Mr Altman said could be carried and used as weapons.
One of the other defendants was in the passenger seat, while the third was sitting on the quad bike that was being towed behind, attached to the open boot lid of the car by a crane strap.
Mr Altman told the court the defendant on the quad bike got off and removed the tow rope from the handlebars to allow the gang to make their escape in the car.
Pc Harper got out of the police car and chased the defendant, who was desperately trying to get into the car. The prosecutor told the jury: “In his rush to ensure that he and his friends did not get caught, the defendant, who had unhitched the crane strap from the quad bike, had been unable to replace the crane strap in the car boot. Constable Harper… had simply not seen or realised – why should he? – that in that moment he had stepped, with both feet, it appears, into the loop made on the road surface by the trailing crane strap.
As Long floored the Seat car to make good their escape, Constable Harper was lassoed around his ankles by the loop of the strap.
“It is the prosecution case that Long drove that car knowing full well that Constable Harper was entangled in the strap, and he drove it in a manner calculated to dislodge him, and to make good their escape.”
‘A snaking trail of apparent tyre marks, abrasion and scuff marks, blood and body matter [were] left behind on the road’
The prosecutor said Mr Long had driven at an average speed of 42.5mph along the narrow country lane. He went on: “A snaking trail of apparent tyre marks, abrasion and scuff marks, blood and body matter left behind on the road surface, as well as personal items and clothing that were ripped from Constable Harper as he was dragged to his death, illustrates the attempt to dislodge him from the strap, which each knew full well.”
The jury was told that one passing motorist who saw the Seat being driven across the A4 thought there was a “bloodied deer” attached to the car, “but quickly realised it was a person trapped by both ankles being dragged around the road and striking the kerb”.
Mr Altman said eventually the officer’s ankles became disentangled and he was left lying in the road. He added: “When he was attended by other police units, including Pc Shaw who finally caught up, he was completely naked apart from his socks, the heavy boots he was wearing and some ripped shreds of the seat and the lower right trouser leg of his police uniform, which remained attached to his body.
“He was barely alive. He died soon after where he lay in Ufton Lane in the company of fellow officers who had tried desperately to save him.”
Harrowing footage of the events leading up to Mr Harper’s final moments were shown in court.
All three defendants have admitted conspiracy to steal the quad bike but deny murder. Mr Long has admitted an alternative charge of manslaughter.
The trial continues.