Ministers keen on new law to ‘get justice’ for Pc Harper
MINISTERS are determined to bring in legal reforms that will “get justice” for the widow of Pc Andrew Harper in her battle for life sentences for those who kill emergency service workers, The Daily Telegraph understands.
Lissie Harper is due to meet Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, and Robert Buckland, the Justice Secretary, in the next few weeks to seek their backing for her campaign for a new law.
Mrs Harper, whose 28-year-old husband was killed when he and a Thames Valley Police colleague responded to a burglary in Berkshire last August, has already secured 500,000 signatures for her campaign petition. Suella Braverman, the Attorney General, has also appealed his killers’ sentences as “unduly lenient” following the acquittal of all three of murder and their later sentences for manslaughter. Pc Harper was dragged to his death by their car as they fled the burglary scene.
Two of the killers, 18-year-olds Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, last week lodged applications with the Court of Appeal seeking permission to challenge their convictions and their 13year prison sentences. They were jailed alongside Henry Long, 19, who was given a 16-year sentence.
Sources said Ms Patel and Mr Buckland were determined to make changes if possible to prevent a repeat of the case and bring Mrs Harper justice. “Both were really disturbed by what happened, Priti particularly. She went to his funeral. She knows the force. They want Lissie to feel she has got justice, and that something like could not happen again,” said one.
However, they do not want to institute legal reforms with unintended consequences based on a case complicated by the killers’ ages, and the fact that they were convicted of manslaughter, not murder.
“It needs to be deliverable and something that is going to be used by judges,” the source added.
One option is to remove the automatic right for convicted criminals, caught “bang to rights” in a killing, to get a third off their sentences just by pleading guilty.
Ministers fear the third-off rule undermines public confidence in the criminal justice system if it is seen to be exploited by offenders caught in the act who plead guilty the first time they are asked in court. “If you get caught redhanded killing someone, say on camera, should you really get a third off for pleading guilty,” asked a source.
Long, the driver of the car that dragged Pc Harper to his death, admitted manslaughter, earning him an eight-year discount, and entitling him to a potential release on parole within 10 years and eight months.
Mrs Harper said she was “delighted” ministers had agreed to a meeting, but added: “We don’t just need warm words, we need action.”
Asked if Harper’s Law would deter future criminals, she said: “I think it could make people stop and think, ‘This could take away the majority of my life’. That’s what I intend to do.”