ANDY Burnham has paused planning to release prisoners early after PC Andrew Harper’s widow blasted the scheme as “deplorable”, it has been reported.
Lissie Harper – who married the officer one month before he was dragged by a car – slammed Labour after it transpired that his two killers would be eligible.
PC Andrew Harper and his wife, Lissie Credit: PA
The couple had married just one month before the tragedy Credit: PA
Prison bosses are now understood to have been told to pause the plans for the September release, according to The Times.
Moved by the anger, the new PM announced that he will review the policy before it goes ahead.
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“I will review the whole of this policy,” he said, adding that “nobody can deny the pressure on prison places”.
“We did not invest in the prison estate when we should as a country, going back a decade or so ago, when it was clear that there was going to be pressure.
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“That has created an unacceptable situation now.
“But I want to assure myself that everything has been looked at before this policy proceeds, and I can give that assurance that every single part of this I will look into with the justice secretary.”
The PM did not commit to “changing the policy completely,” but vowed to look at it “in detail” and go from there.
PC Harper died from his wounds when he was caught in a strap attached to the back of a car and dragged for more than a mile in August 2019.
Jessie Cole (left) and Albert Bowers Credit: PA
PM Andy Burnham in his first few days in the job Credit: Getty
His killers Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, who were 17 at the time of the offence, were jailed for 13 years in 2020 for manslaughter.
He had gone to investigate the theft of a quad bike when Bowers and Cole tried to escape in a vehicle driven by a third killer, Henry Long.
Lissie said it was “deplorable that we have reached a point where releasing prisoners early is even considered acceptable”.
She accused the party of betrayal after it previously helped her create Harper’s Law – the introduction of mandatory life sentences for those who kill emergency workers while committing a crime.
“That cross-party support helped make Harper’s Law a reality,” she said, adding that today it feels “forgotten”.
“For victims’ families, this is not about politics. It is about whether a sentence means what a judge says it means.
“It is about whether justice is something we truly believe in, or something that can be negotiated away when it becomes inconvenient.
“Andrew deserves better. Every victim deserves better. And the British public deserve a justice system they can have faith in.”
Burnham had confirmed “main perpetrator” Long would not be released early as he is not eligible under the scheme.
But Debbie Adlam, the police officer’s mother, was told that his other two killers may have their sentences reduced in a letter from the MoJ.
The heartbroken mum told The Telegraph that the potential early release of the killers was an “insult beyond anything able to be put into words”.
“It makes me feel sick. Andrew’s life doesn’t get to come back. It feels like a slap in the face and an insult,” she said.
“People are getting a free pass for crime in this country. I like to try to be proud of my country, but this isn’t something to be proud of. There’s a lot going wrong.”
It is unclear precisely when Bowers and Cole will become eligible for early release, though it could be by the end of the year.
