Burnham seeks to block early release for two PC Harper killers

Andy Burnham was confident a solution could be found to exclude two of PC Andrew Harper’s killers from an early release scheme, as the row over prison overcrowding intensified. The case has put ministers under pressure to reconcile public anger over a notorious killing with the wider sentencing policy.

The men at the centre of the dispute were identified as Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, who were convicted of manslaughter over the death of Thames Valley police officer Andrew Harper in 2019. A third teenager, Henry Long, was described as the main perpetrator and would not have been subject to the scheme.

Under the government’s prison-overcrowding plan, Bowers and Cole could still have been eligible for release at the halfway point of their sentences. That possibility drew an immediate backlash from Harper’s family and from police representatives, who argued that the scheme was sweeping in offenders Parliament never intended to benefit.

Lissie Harper called the prospect "deplorable" and said she would "not give up" opposing early release. Harper’s mother, Debbie Adlam, said she was "devastated" and said the men "shouldn't have been considered in the first place for early release." The senior investigating officer in the case said he was "appalled" that two of the killers could become eligible, while a former officer also said he was "appalled."

Thames Valley Police Federation chair Aileen O’Connor called the situation "gut-wrenching" and said it was "unacceptable" that the killers were still included in the government scheme. A petition calling for Harper’s killers to be kept in jail passed 500,000 signatures, showing how strongly the case continued to resonate beyond the courtroom.

The government later announced changes to the scheme, excluding prisoners convicted of rape, grooming and serious child sex offences in England and Wales. Those amendments did not remove Bowers and Cole, whose convictions remained manslaughter. Justice Secretary Alex Norris apologised to families affected by the scheme, saying they were "carrying the can from previous failures."

Thames Valley Police said that under the law bearing Andrew Harper’s name, his killers would receive life sentences if convicted today. The contrast between that legal overhaul and the continued eligibility of Bowers and Cole has left the Harper case at the centre of a wider argument over whether prison release rules can be tightened for one case without rewriting the rules for all.