My endless, sprawling dark – by PC’s widow
Nobody will ever know love like ours, she says in anguished letter
THE widow of Andrew Harper has told of her ‘endless sprawling dark’ since her hero PC husband was dragged to his death by three smirking louts.
Pouring her heart out in a letter to the brave constable to mark what would have been their first anniversary, Lissie Harper wrote: ‘I will never again know love like that.’ The 29-year-old posted it on
Facebook just days before an Old Bailey jury cleared her husband’s teenage killers of murder, but found them guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter – sparking a public outcry.
In the letter, Mrs Harper recalled the couple’s idyllic wedding in the landscaped grounds of Ardington House, near Oxford.
‘Twelve months since I walked down an aisle of incandescent light … it feels only yesterday that I stood in front of a vision of hope and happiness and love,’ she wrote.
‘The tears in your eyes that only I could see and the sheer happiness radiating from mine. I will never again know love like that. No one will ever know a love like ours. A most perfect day that will swim in my mind forever.’
PC Harper, 28, was killed just four weeks after the wedding, as the couple – childhood sweethearts who lived near Oxford – were making preparations for a honeymoon in the Maldives.
Reflecting on what should have been a joyful landmark, his widow wrote: ‘This day should have been wildly different, instead of celebrating with you on our first anniversary, I am alone in utter disbelief. How surreal it is that these days one year apart are at complete parallels, like a different world entirely.
‘One of dazzling light and the other of endless sprawling dark. What I wouldn’t give to be back on that beautiful sunny day, dressed in white with your hand in mine and a lifetime of happiness swirling around our minds.’
PC Harper’s killers – Henry Long, 19, Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, both 18 – showed no remorse throughout their trial. They cheered, punched the air and hugged each other when the verdict was delivered on Friday.
Mrs Harper refers to their callousness, writing: ‘I will spend the rest of my days never understanding the meaning of this cruelty, how the bad are allowed to live and the simply perfect souls are taken from this place of wondrous beauty.
‘My heart belongs to you and my mind will forever remain the memory box that holds your smile, your laugh and every sweet second we had together. I will love you eternally my husband.’
Amid mounting anger at the verdict, former Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett has urged the Government to appeal the decision at the High Court. He also questioned why a retrial was not ordered after one female juror had to be discharged after appearing to be ‘too friendly’ with the defendants.
The peer said: ‘The danger is if one person is on friendly terms with the defendants, it may well have affected the attitude of other jurors.’
The trial heard how Long, Bowers and Cole, who are members of the traveller community, were trying to steal a £10,000 quad bike from a house in Berkshire when PC Harper answered a 999 call.
When he tried to make an arrest, his legs became entangled in a tow rope and he was dragged behind the trio’s Seat getaway car at speeds of up to 70mph for a mile, causing fatal injuries. Lord Blunkett said: ‘The main issue is whether this event constituted murder – in my view it did. Could they conceivably have known they were dragging a body behind them? The answer is yes.
‘I think it would be appropriate for the Justice Secretary to talk to the Attorney General about considering to appeal the sentence to a higher court.’ Andrew Ledbury, a family friend of the Harpers, said: ‘To say I’m shocked and disappointed would be a huge understatement.
‘For me it was never a question of whether it would be murder or manslaughter – it was a question of how many of them would be prosecuted for murder.’
‘This day should have been so wildly different’