Cop killers must get life sentence

■I fully support Lissie Harper’s campaign for the law to be changed to get justice not just for her husband, PC Andrew Harper, but also for all members of the emergency services who are killed while doing their duty (Mirror, August 28).

Killers of our heroes, who put their lives on the line every day, should receive mandatory life sentences. To read that the low-life criminals who killed him – and I do believe the verdict should have been murder, not manslaughter – could be out in seven and eight years, is an absolute insult.

I will sign Lissie’s petition as I feel so strongly about this issue, and I hope many others will too. PC Harper’s killers will have a life when they get out, he will not. All the best to Lissie – and I pray her campaign is successful and that justice will be done.

Jennifer Phelps, Somerton, Somerset

■ Nothing could possibly lessen the heartbreak and anguish being suffered by the widow and relatives of PC Harper, but the fact that the Attorney General has agreed to review the sentences passed on the three responsible for his death under the “unduly lenient” scheme is to be applauded.

The horrific nature of the crime, coupled with their utter contempt for the judiciary and the judicial system will hopefully earn all three the maximum sentence allowable by the law they hold in such contempt.

M Mellor, Bury St Edmunds Suffolk

■ Our judicial system is clearly broken and PC Harper’s wife Lissie is right to be mortified that the scum who cost this brave police officer his life were reportedly awarded over £465,000 in legal aid and will now appeal their very lenient sentences.

It’s a disgrace. In my opinion they should have received at least 20 years each without the right of appeal.

What a sad country we live in. George Angus

Newcastle upon Tyne

■ Without taking away from Lissie Harper’s pain at the horrific death of her husband Andrew while doing his duty as a police officer, I cannot bring myself to support her call for a mandatory life sentence for the killing of members of the emergency services.

Why is a police officer’s life worth more than anyone else’s when so many families cannot get justice for their loved ones either?

It’s right that the law is applied on a case by case basis and there are no knee-jerk reactions to particularly horrific cases.

J Marshall

Sheffield

■ As a pensioner and taxpayer, I’m incensed that the three who killed PC Andrew Harper received legal aid.

I wholeheartedly back Lissie’s campaign for mandatory life sentences for those who kill our emergency services heroes – and I do mean life.

Valerie Turrell, Rochford, Essex

■ There is something seriously flawed with the legal system in this country. How did those thugs that killed PC Andrew Harper get legal aid for such a heinous crime and then receive such a short sentence? Something needs to be done now. Anne Hine, High Wycombe, Bucks

■ I urge everyone to sign Lissie Harper’s petition for a Harper’s Law. How many more emergency service heroes will be killed doing their duty and the perpetrators get off with unduly lenient sentences? It’s not right and the law must be changed accordingly.

A Firth, North Yorks

■ To join Lissie’s campaign to protect emergency service workers, sign the petition at www. change.org/harperslaw.