Family ‘torn apart’ by police officer’s death
THE family of a police officer who was killed responding to a burglary said their “lives and hearts have been torn apart” as they and his colleagues observed a minute’s silence in his honour.
PC Andrew Harper, from Thames Valley Police, died from multiple injuries after being dragged under a vehicle near the village of Sulhamstead in Berkshire last Thursday evening.
The 28-year-old newlywed’s family stood alongside more than 100 officers and staff at the Thames Valley Police training centre at 11am, where flowers had been laid in the grounds.
In a tribute ahead of the memorial yesterday, PC Harper’s mother Debbie said their family was “devastated and bereft” by his death, thanking police officers, paramedics and the general public for their
“outpouring of love”.
She said: “Going on to my dearest and desperately missed Andrew, our lives and hearts have been torn apart, to be taken from us all and his childhood sweetheart Lissie and her lovely family who have been his closest family of late.
“We are devastated and bereft but as Andrew always lived with dignity, honour and calmness, we intend to grieve in this way.”
PC Harper had been married to Lissie for just four weeks when he died, and she described him as “the kindest, loveliest, most selfless” person.
A police officer blew a whistle to mark the start of the silence as police forces across the country also planned to fall silent in his honour.
Chief Constable John Campbell called PC Harper a “dearly loved and respected colleague, friend and proud police officer”, adding it was a time for “gathering, a time to pause, and a time to reflect”.
Jed Foster, 20, has been charged with murder over the death of PC Harper. He was one of 10 men and boys aged between 13 and 30 arrested after the incident. The remaining nine have been bailed until September 13.