PC Harper killing ringleader ‘ should have got life sentence’
THE widow of PC Andrew Harper has said most Britons back the Attorney General’s call for the ringleader of the gang who killed her husband to face life behind bars.
Lissie Harper, 29, said yesterday’s “harrowing” Court of Appeal hearing was a “step closer to a fair outcome”.
Suella Braverman QC said PC Harper paid the “ultimate price for his bravery” when he was killed on duty in Berkshire in August 2019.
She described the case as the most “serious case of manslaughter as it is possible to envisage”. Mrs Braverman told the Court of Appeal that 19- year- old driver Henry Long, who dragged PC Harper to his death, should have been given a life sentence.
Long was jailed for 16 years and his 18- year- old passengers, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, were each sentenced to 13 years in July over the death. Ms Braverman argued that the three teenagers’ sentences were “unduly lenient” and should be increased.
She told the court that Long’s prison term did not reflect “the seriousness of the offence” and was “contrary to the interests of justice”. She argued that the original trial judge “having concluded this was a very serious case of manslaughter and a case very close to murder in its seriousness” should have “imposed a life sentence as opposed to an extended determinate sentence”. Lissie attended the hearing wearing three police badges, two bearing Andrew’s collar number 7605 and a thin blue line badge in memory of fallen officers. She said: “Today has been as harrowing as you can all expect, however, we leave this court with at least a sense of balance. I have every respect for the Attorney General for reaching the right decision in referring this case for review.
“I know that the majority of our country stands with her and with me in wanting that change.
“We need to be tougher and more prepared to shield our heroes from the atrocities that they continue to face.”
The police officer’s wife is campaigning for a “Harper’s law”, which would mean those found guilty of killing emergency workers receive life sentences.
The Court of Appeal judges will rule at a later date.