WHEN Andy Burnham announced last year that Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson was to remain at the head of Greater Manchester Police for a ­further two years, he did so with considerable pride.

Watson, he said, had delivered a ­“colossal turnaround” in the UK’s second- largest police force, making “significant strides” to ensure the city’s streets ­were safer, adding: “We are backing him to ­finish the job.”

Disgraceful Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole smirking as they are led away in cuffs Credit: The Jattvibe

Prime Minister Andy Burnham should be listening to the police officers who have been left demoralised Credit: Getty

There is no question that Watson is a real coppers’ copper who oversaw important changes in Manchester.

And that is why his signature on a letter from 50 police chiefs calling for the Prime Minister to block the release of two of PC Andrew Harper’s killers will have been a significant, and very painful, blow.

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But this loss of confidence from Britain’s top cops has not happened overnight.

First there was the reaction of Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Jason Hogg, who said in August he was “beyond ­disappointed” that smirking killers Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole would be eligible for early release.

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On Monday, he was joined by Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Barber, and Chair of the Thames Valley Police Federation, Aileen O’Connor, who wrote to Burnham urging him to keep the pair behind bars.

Their words show these police leaders understand the psychological impact of this debate on frontline officers.

They will have had conversations with them, which I can imagine — and I’m sure your readers can too — beginning with the words: “Boss, they don’t have our backs.”

Policing is on its knees, and those at the top understand that our officers need to feel the Government has their backs when they run towards danger  — as PC Harper did.

The senior policing community do not always acquit themselves well when ­dealing with the state.

However, I believe their open letter today is driven by a genuine sense of ­outrage that politicians could be so callous as to forget the impact of the chaotic early release scheme on their officers.

This is Burnham’s first test as Prime Minister, and maybe he will learn from it.

Maybe he will learn that the Ministry of Justice is full of people who are wildly incompetent and have made careers out of failing upwards.

PC Andrew Harper was dragged to his death in 2019 as he attempted to stop thieves stealing a quad bike Credit: PA

Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson oversaw important changes in Manchester Credit: Andy Kelvin / Kelvinmedia

In their advice to him in this case, they have failed spectacularly.

The party line is that the exemption of PC Harper’s killers is impossible.

Yet no one has explained why it would be impossible to pass primary legislation to exempt those convicted of the ­manslaughter of police officers.

Similar legislation has been created to detain ­terrorists in the past.

Are we saying that the apparatus of the state is unable to fix this problem?

Rather than listening to advisers who are trying to protect their reputations, ­Burnham should be listening to the police officers who have been left demoralised.

He should be listening to PC Harper’s family, and thousands of other victims who are faced with the agony of not knowing whether or not the perpetrators of crimes against them will soon be back walking the streets.

And yet this is not the first time a ­failure to tackle prison system issues has derailed a Prime Minister in the early days of their premiership.

Just two months after he was sworn in in July 2024, Keir Starmer saw criminals popping champagne corks outside ­Wandsworth Prison as they celebrated their early release under his scheme to ease prison overcrowding.

The embarrassing episode came when the new PM was still finding his feet, and some would say he never recovered from it.

Which begs the question: When will politicians learn that draining confidence in the prison system is electoral ­kryptonite?

Clearly Burnham is not a ­student of recent history.

PC Andrew Harper’s widow Lissie said she was ‘disgusted’ his killers will be freed Credit: PA

Officers paying their respects at the scene of Andrew’s brutal killing Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

His response may be that Labour ­inherited this mess from the ­Conservative government, and that they have “no choice” but to act as our prisons are fast approaching full capacity.

While I suspect the Ministry of Justice projections may overestimate the speed at which this is happening, we do of course have an urgent problem with prison ­overcrowding in this country.

In my view, the only way to deal with this is with the rapid expansion of the prison estate — which is possible, if not ­palatable.

In recent years, statistics show the ­number of female inmates is down. Releasing 40 per cent of these — ­excluding those in for violent and/or sexual offences — would free up hundreds of spaces.

Removing non-violent criminals who have offended due to drug addiction to secure NHS detox facilities could free up as many as 5,000 places.

Existing prisons which have been closed down, such as HMP Dartmoor and HMP Camp Hill, could also be used to create headroom.

The helpless inability to ­mobilise the enormous resources of the state to create additional space is woeful.

And there are further options which could be explored.

In 1997, the Labour government introduced HMP Weare — a ship moored in Portland Harbour — to ease overcrowding.

Before its closure in 2005, it held 400 inmates who consistently said the ­conditions on board were better than in prisons like Brixton.

There are no easy options here.

But if Burnham is to survive this first test, he needs to stop listening to the usual suspects in the prison reform ­system who were responsible for telling him that keeping Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole in prison was “impossible”.

Instead, he needs to start listening to the public — who have, to date, left almost a ­million signatures on a petition for the killers to remain caged.

And he needs to listen to the frontline police officers who leave home each ­morning knowing that — like PC Harper — they may not come back.­