MY LOVE FOR YOU WILL NEVER FADE
Widow of PC killed in the line of duty pays her own moving tribute at his funeral
HE lost his life in the line of duty on an ordinary call- out that ended in tragedy four weeks after he married her.
Yesterday PC Andrew Harper’s widow paid heartbreaking tribute to him at his funeral as she said: ‘My lovely boy, I miss you more and more as the days pass into weeks, my love for you will never fade, the sound of your laugh will stay with me.’
Lissie Harper spoke movingly of the childhood sweetheart who grew to be the love of her life, her hero who was ‘the kindest of kind and sweetest of sweet’.
Tears welled in the eyes of many among the 800 mourners at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford – and many more in an overspill church to which the service was broadcast – as she added: ‘If everyone on this Earth had just an ounce of the kindness and generosity that Andrew had, I know that it would be a better place.’
PC Harper, 28, from Wallingford, Oxfordshire, was dragged under a van while responding to a burglary on the outskirts of the village of Sulhamstead in Berkshire on August 15. Three teenagers have been charged with his murder.
Before yesterday’s service, police officers and members of the public lined the streets with heads bowed as the funeral cortege, led by mounted officers
‘He represented policing at its best’
of PC Harper’s force, Thames Valley Police, processed through the city.
One officer was seen wiping her eyes, while another reached for a tissue. Six uniformed officers carried PC Harper’s coffin, draped in a navy blue flag with the police crest on the sides, into the cathedral. Mrs Harper then placed her late husband’s ceremonial police hat on the coffin.
In her tribute, Mrs Harper’s undying love for her husband was evident.
‘From the ever sweet, lanky, red faced boy passing me notes in class, to the strong and loyal man you grew to be,’ she said, ‘I have always known how special you are.
‘We often talked about how lucky we were to have found and kept each other, true childhood sweethearts, loving one another more and more with each passing day. Not a day went past that we didn’t say I love you.’
She told how they managed to pack ‘so many amazing memories into the last 13 years, travelling the world, buying a house and getting married’.
PC Harper had always been a protector, she said, whether in the role of big brother, fierce friend, loving husband or keeper of the peace among the public.
‘Everything was always OK when you
were around,’ she said. He was also ‘unfailingly kind, a gentle giant with a heart of gold’. He wore his uniform with pride and ‘vowed to challenge the bad and celebrate the good’.
Mrs Harper recalled, too, the policeman’s love of the outdoors – and how their last trip together, after their wedding, had been to Cornwall, a place to where they had made many visits and where he was always ‘so at peace’, enjoying walking on the beach and eating fish and chips.
‘You used to tell me we were a team and that we would get through all of life’s hurdles together, how I wish you were here with me now,’ she said. ‘The hardest challenge of all is losing you.’ To her, PC Harper was ‘everything – my breakfast buddy, my dancing partner, the love of my life’, a ‘positive force of nature’ and ‘the kindest of kind and sweetest of sweet’.
‘I’ve never known anyone so kind, worry free, forgiving, positive and good as our Andrew... He was my hero and his spirit will live on in my memories for ever.’
PC Harper’s parents Phil and Debbie and his brother Sean were among the congregation, as was Home Secretary Priti Patel. The funeral was attended by officers from fro PC Harper’s force and neighbouring bo units. The Dean of Christ Church, Ch the Very Rev Professor Martyn M Percy, said: ‘Some might say sa he was an ordinary man with an ordinary job.
‘I ‘ do not agree. He represented policing po at its best. He was everything th you wanted in a police officer. Andrew An was brave, authentic, genuine ui and kind.’
His H death ‘reminds us of the routine tin risks that police officers take each ea day. No one ever anticipates an ordinary call-out ending in such tragedy’, tr Dr Percy said.
PC P Harper was ‘part of that thin blue bl line that holds and binds our communities co together’, he added.
It I was appropriate to hold the service se at the cathedral because it covers co the same counties – Buckinghamshire, B Berkshire and Oxfordshire O – as Thames Valley Police, Po while Sir Robert Peel, the 19th century statesman and prime minister regarded as the founder of modern British policing, studied at Christ Church college.
The hour-long service was blessed by the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev Dr Steven Croft, and was followed by a private cremation and wake for family only.