When a police officer is killed in the line of duty, the least his family deserves is to know his killers will serve their time. Lissie Harper, widow of PC Andrew Harper, says that promise now feels like it’s being quietly broken.
Lissie has spoken out after reports emerged that two of the men convicted of killing her husband could be released early under the government’s controversial prisoner release scheme. PC Harper was dragged to his death behind a getaway car in Berkshire in August 2019, just four weeks into his marriage. He was 28 years old.
Henry Long, Jessie Cole, and Albert Bowers were convicted in connection with his death. Long received a 16-year manslaughter sentence. Cole and Bowers received 13-year sentences each. The prospect of any of them walking free ahead of schedule has left Lissie, who has campaigned tirelessly for tougher sentencing laws since Andrew’s death, utterly furious.
“The possible early release of these prisoners is deplorable,” she said, in terms that left little room for ambiguity.
The scheme in question was introduced by the government to ease pressure on an overcrowded prison system, allowing some inmates to be released having served 40% of their sentence rather than the standard 50%. It’s proven deeply unpopular with victims’ groups and law enforcement alike.
Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor and former Home Secretary candidate, has now said he will review the scheme. It’s a signal that political discomfort with the policy is growing, not just among the public but within Labour’s own ranks.
Lissie’s campaign, which led to Harper’s Law, legislation introduced in 2021 that brought mandatory life sentences for those who kill emergency workers, was a rare parliamentary victory for a grieving family. She fought for it for two years. The idea that the same system might now quietly unpick that progress will strike many as deeply contradictory.
There are, of course, genuine arguments about prison overcrowding and rehabilitation. The prison population in England and Wales recently exceeded 88,000, a record high. But policy made in spreadsheets has a habit of looking very different when it meets real people.
Whether Burnham’s review amounts to a meaningful change of course, or simply political cover, remains to be seen.
