Pc Andrew Harper’s former force is considering joining potential legal action against the Government as his widow backed a petition to block his killers being released from prison early.
Lissie Harper described feeling “punched in the gut” by the decision to push ahead with plans that could see Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers freed as part of a scheme starting in October.
Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Jason Hogg said he was receiving legal advice on whether the force could join a legal challenge mooted by the local Police Federation to prevent their release.
Some 5,000 people are expected to be released early under sentencing changes, down from 6,000 after ministers exempted rapists and “serious” child sex offenders as part of the scheme to tackle overcrowding in jails.
Cole and Bowers remain eligible to be freed halfway through their 13-year sentences after they were convicted of manslaughter in 2020 following Pc Harper’s death in 2019.
More than 150,000 people have signed a petition in the past 24 hours demanding the Government takes action to keep the killers in jail.
As she backed the calls, Ms Harper said: “Government has punched us in the gut… they should be ashamed of themselves.
“Hopefully we can make the current Government come to their senses and realise we cannot put people like this back on our streets. Justice should mean justice and serving the sentence given.”
Aileen O’Connor, who chairs the Thames Valley Police Federation, said releasing Cole and Bowers would anger and demoralise serving officers in the area.
Writing in The Sun newspaper, she said: “We will throw everything at this through a proper legal challenge from KCs, barristers, you name it. Our colleagues will accept nothing less.
“It is a final betrayal from the politicians, who are supposed to be on our side.”
Asked if he would join the case, Mr Hogg told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday: “This is something I certainly would consider. But like I said, I urge the Government now.
“I do think that the public opinion is overwhelming in this matter, but I think it’s unfair and I do believe confidence in the criminal justice system risks being damaged.
“It’s right for the Government to have a look at this matter.”
Justice minister Jake Richards said the killers would remain subject to the early release scheme from October as he faced broadcasters on Wednesday morning.
“It would be wrong to pick out individual cases within different offending cohorts,” he said. “That wouldn’t be right. It wouldn’t be lawful either.
“I understand the strength of feeling from police officers generally, but of course within that force in particular after the awful incident with Pc Andrew Harper.
“If we do not have prison places available then the police, the good work that they do every day on the streets, finding perpetrators, locking them up, it would be impossible.”
Pc Harper was 28 when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019.
He died after getting caught in a strap attached to the back of a car and dragged down a country road as three teenage suspects fled the scene of the burglary.
The driver of the vehicle, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence and would not be eligible for the Government’s scheme.
His family have expressed anger and disappointment at the decision not to exempt Cole and Bowers from the plans as well.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he had wanted to “go further” with the exemptions after ordering a review of the scheme, but this was “not possible without the prison system reaching capacity and collapsing”.
Those released will face tougher probation conditions, including electronic monitoring, random drug testing and possible bans from driving, pubs and events such as football matches.
The changes were part of the Sentencing Act passed earlier this year that cut the minimum amount of time many offenders would have to spend in prison.
Questions have also been raised about the extent of exemptions for child sex offenders, with The Times reporting the rules will not apply to some historical cases.
The paper said victims’ commissioner Claire Waxman is seeking clarification after the Ministry of Justice was unable to say which offences would be excluded from the early release scheme.
Asked about claims a loophole in the plans could see some child sex offenders freed, Mr Richards told Sky News: “We’ve set out and published all the offences which have been carved out of the new scheme that begins in October.
“Those are all online, several pages. But what we have been very clear is that we cannot carve out every single offence that people might want us to do so.”
