One Million Signatures in Days: Public Fury Explodes Over Plans to Free PC Andrew Harper’s Killers Early
More than one million people have signed a petition demanding that two men convicted in the killing of Police Constable Andrew Harper be blocked from early prison release. The campaign, launched by the Thames Valley Police Federation, has grown at remarkable speed and now stands as one of the largest public responses to a sentencing decision in recent years.
PC Andrew Harper, 28, died in August 2019 while responding to a report of a stolen quad bike in rural Berkshire. As three teenagers fled the scene in a vehicle, Harper became entangled in a strap attached to the car. He was dragged more than a mile along country roads and suffered fatal injuries. Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers were later convicted of manslaughter and each received a 13-year sentence in 2020. The third man, the driver Henry Long, was given 16 years and is not eligible under the current early-release rules.
Under changes to the Sentencing Act introduced this year to ease severe prison overcrowding, Cole and Bowers would become eligible for automatic release in January after serving only half of their terms. Until these changes, offenders in their category would have been required to serve at least two-thirds of their sentence. The government has already excluded those convicted of rape, serious child sex offences and grooming from the scheme, reducing the expected number of early releases from around 6,000 to about 5,000. Manslaughter cases involving the death of an emergency worker, however, were not included in those exemptions.
The petition was started by Aileen O’Connor, chair of the Thames Valley Police Federation. She described the prospect of early release as pouring salt into wounds that have never healed and as an insult to Harper’s family, colleagues and the wider policing community. The campaign has drawn support from serving and former officers, police chiefs across the country, and politicians from multiple parties in the Thames Valley region. Open letters have urged the government to create a specific exclusion for those who kill emergency workers while committing a crime.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has responded to the growing pressure. He has instructed the Justice Secretary to examine further options that would keep the most serious offenders, including Cole and Bowers, in custody. Burnham has said he is increasingly confident that expanded prison capacity will allow the government to reduce the overall number of early releases and prevent the release of those involved in Harper’s death. Detailed proposals are expected when Parliament returns in September.
Harper’s family has continued to campaign. His widow, Lissie Harper, has long argued that justice requires the full sentence to be served. His mother has spoken of cautious hope after contact from Downing Street, while emphasising that the original sentences were not extreme and should simply be carried out as handed down.
The case has also highlighted the limits of Harper’s Law, legislation introduced after the officer’s death that imposes a mandatory life sentence on anyone who kills an emergency worker while committing a crime. Because the law is not retrospective, it does not apply to Cole and Bowers. The public petition and the political response now focus on whether new measures can still keep the two men behind bars until their full terms are complete.
As the petition continues to gather signatures, the debate centres on the balance between managing prison capacity and ensuring that those responsible for the death of a police officer on duty serve the sentences the courts imposed. The outcome will be closely watched by the policing community and by the many members of the public who have already made their views clear.
