Hero PC’s widow calls on Labour to back campaign
HERO PC Andrew Harper’s widow is pushing for cross- party support for her campaign for life sentences for anyone who kills an emergency services worker.
Lissie Harper will meet Shadow Home Secretary Nick ThomasSymonds on Tuesday to discuss her proposals for tougher punishments.
It follows a meeting last week with Home Secretary Priti Patel and Justice Secretary Robert Buckland, at which they offered their support.
Lissie, 29, and her 28- year- old husband, a Thames Valley Police offer, had been married for just four weeks when he was killed.
He was caught in a tow rope and dragged along country lanes after trying to stop quad bike thieves in Berkshire in August last year.
She said: “Cross- party support is so important to us and we want to get lots of different people on board. This is a bigger thing than just different parties. It’s something that we all need to do together.
“This isn’t just for the minority of people, it’s for everyone.
“We really need that support to go forward to get the law passed.”
PC Harper’s three teenage killers were cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter after an Old Bailey trial.
Henry Long, 19, has applied for permission to appeal against his 16- year sentence, while 18- year- olds Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole are both looking to challenge their convictions and 13- year prison terms.
In a separate move, the Attorney General has also referred the jail terms to the Court of Appeal to consider whether they were too lenient.
Lissie said knowing convicted killers would face a life sentence would make a “huge difference” to their bereaved families.
Describing going through the court process, she said: “It’s something you want to be over and it’s something you want to have the right outcome.
“Justice for your loved one is really important. You would have that certainty already that this [ a life sentence] is going to happen.
“It just takes away so much heartache that you don’t want to be experiencing when you’re trying to deal with that level of grief.”
She said that her ability to grieve for her husband had been affected by the debate over his killers’ sentences and legal appeals.
She added: “You don’t get that closure and that justice.
“You’re in limbo, especially in my situation with appeals.
“You can’t reach a point where you can just focus on what you need to focus on, which is grieving for somebody who is not here any more.”