Pc Harper widow ‘horrified’ at killers’ £465k in legal aid
THE widow of Pc Andrew Harper said she is “horrified” after reports emerged that his killers got £465,000 in legal aid.
The figure was paid to solicitors and barristers defending Henry Long, 19, and Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, both 18, who fatally dragged the constable behind a car for more than a mile when he attended reports of a quad bike theft last August. All three were acquitted of murder during a trial at the Old Bailey last month but were sentenced for the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Now legal aid figures seen by the Daily Mail show that legal representatives for Long, the driver of the car, were paid £169,175. The figure includes £119,405 for his team of solicitors and £48,622 for his barrister, a QC.
His accomplices, Bowers and Cole, both 18, had separate legal teams who were paid £131,696 and £164,898 respectively – a total to the taxpayer of just under £465,769.
A further £2,720 was spent on representation for all three at the police station after their initial arrest.
Speaking yesterday, Lissie Harper, 29, said she was “horrified” by the figures and added: “Not only did we not get justice for Andrew, we now know the cost of that injustice. It saddens me – but does not surprise me – that so much public money has been and continues to be spent on defending the indefensible.
“This just doesn’t seem right or fair. Andrew was my whole life. I have had to sit in a courtroom and witness the people who chose to take my husband’s life show no remorse.”
Mrs Harper and her 28-year-old husband had been married for just four weeks when he and a Thames Valley
Police colleague responded to a latenight burglary in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August last year.
Two of Pc Harper’s killers – Bowers and Cole – last week lodged applications with the Court of Appeal seeking permission to challenge their convictions and their 13-year prison sentences. They were jailed alongside Long, who was handed a 16-year sentence.
Those sentences have also been referred to the Court of Appeal by Suella Braverman, the Attorney General, for judges to decide whether they were too lenient.