At 11.17pm on August 15 last. 'Almost naked by this point, PC Harper was left as you can imagine with the most appalling of injuries, from which he died there on the road. [26] Bowers and Coleboth minors at the time of the offence and originally protected by Section 39 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal a quad bike[15] but denied manslaughter. Earlier today we sought a 36 hour extension to their custody, and this was granted at Reading Magistrates Court. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. The Telegraph 2.99M subscribers Three teenagers have been convicted of killing Pc Andrew Harper as they evaded arrest. (3) Bowers and Cole's applications for permission to appeal against their convictions. Jurors in the PC Andrew Harper murder case were today shown the alleged quad bike thieves' battered Seat with a tow rope that dragged the officer to his death. Mrs Harper said her husband was the "kindest, loveliest, most selfless person you will ever meet". The type of strap has been variously identified as either a crane strap, List of British police officers killed in the line of duty, "PC Harper's mum adds name to petition on 'miscarriage of justice', "Family hails 'hero' PC as police fall silent", "College pays tribute to murdered officer", "PC Andrew Harper murder trial shown footage of search for police officer", "PC Andrew Harper murder inquiry: police search caravan site", "The emotional message PC Harper's widow wrote after Ride of Respect", "Widow thanks 5,000 bikers who joined PC's tribute", "PC murder trial hears quad bike owner's 999 call", "PC Harper dragged along more than a mile to his death, court hears", "Police release PC Andrew Harper's cause of death", "Dashcam footage from killed PC's car shown to jury", "PC Andrew Harper's body seen 'tumbling' in road, court hears", "Colleague 'could not recognise' killed PC", "Self-isolating jurors discharged in PC death trial", "Officer describes moment PC Andrew Harper was dragged by car", "PC was 'dragged behind car for more than a mile', "Police officer dragged behind car for more than a mile in 'completely senseless killing', court hears", "PC Andrew Harper: Ten remain in custody as traveller site is raided", "Family of seven about to lose their home on traveller site gain a day's reprieve", "Charges dropped against man accused of PC Andrew Harper murder", "PC Harper murder trial: Officer died in 'shocking circumstances', "CPS further update in relation to the investigation into PC Harper's death | The Crown Prosecution Service", "PC Andrew Harper murder trial: two admit plot to steal quad bike", "PC murder accused teens admit bike theft plot", "Three teenagers charged with murder of PC Andrew Harper", "PC Andrew Harper murder trial suspended", "PC Harper: Three teenagers who dragged newly married officer to his death show no remorse as they are jailed", "PC Andrew Harper murder trial: Case of 'utmost importance', court told", "PC Andrew Harper's widow writes to PM asking for retrial of killers", "Jury retires in police officer murder trial", "PC Andrew Harper: No truth jurors pressured, says judge", "Bid to increase PC Harper's killers' sentences", "Two of PC Andrew Harper's killers to appeal against convictions", "PC Harper's killers' sentences to be reviewed", "PC Andrew Harper: Henry Long to appeal against manslaughter sentence", "Killer of PC Andrew Harper 'should get life sentence', "Long & Ors v R. [2020] EWCA Crim 1729 (16 December 2020)", "PC Andrew Harper: Hundreds of mourners attend funeral", "Wife of fallen police officer accepts posthumous honour award in his memory", "Police horse named Harper after killed officer", "PC Andrew Harper's widow launches 'Andrew's Law' campaign", "Boost for public safety as four justice bills receive Royal Assent", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Killing_of_Andrew_Harper&oldid=1132311582, This page was last edited on 8 January 2023, at 07:36. Widow Mrs Harper told the court: "This is my third attempt at writing a statement. Read about our approach to external linking. All three were standing trial for murder, but the jury found them guilty. For the first time, jurors heard the details of PC Harper's brutal killing - many of which were too graphic for publication. The court heard homeowner Peter Wallis had reported masked thieves making off with the valuable Honda quad bike from his house in Bradfield Southend, near Reading, at 11.17pm. ", After a pause, he adds: "F*** me they've already taken it.". This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. Chief Constable John Campbell said the death of PC Harper had left the entire force "shocked and saddened". 'The three, effectively acting together as one, were determined to make good their escape at whatever the cost and regardless of the harm that anybody standing in their way may come to.'. Det Supt Stuart Blaik, the senior investigating officer in the case, said his team didn't have an "awful lot to go on in the very early stages". Jurors were shown harrowing video footage of the incident recorded on a camera attached to the officers unmarked BMW patrol car. [40], The Attorney-General's application for permission to refer and the defendants' applications for permission to appeal were heard by the Court of Appeal on 30 November 2020, the Attorney-General Suella Braverman appearing personally. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to Its clear he has a catastrophic series of injuries and theres nothing that can be done for him.. Long was acquitted of murder at the Old. [5][13] Shaw arrived at the location to find another officer tending to Harper,[19] who was pronounced dead by paramedics at 23:45. In the next 15 seconds Cole removed the loop of strapping from the handlebars of the quad bike, Mr Laidlaw told the court. Mr Wallis told the Thames Valley Police operator: "I've got four masked men outside my house and they've got weapons. The officer on duty with PC Harper was not physically injured but is being given emotional support, Thames Valley Police said. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. "I will spend every day for the rest of my life with a hole that will never be filled. [15] At 23:30, Shaw received a radio transmission from another responding officer which warned of "a body in the road"; Shaw replied that he believed the body was that of Harper. Officers are carrying out house-to-house inquiries, reviewing CCTV footage, interviewing witnesses and conducting forensic examinations, Det Supt Kent added. ', He continued: 'The prosecution's position is that the idea that they did not know that it was the policeman who had become entangled in the strap and was being dragged down that country lane behind their speeding car can be resoundingly rejected.'. 'With Jessie Cole now in the car, Henry Long drove off at speed, flooring the accelerator to make good their escape. [36] Harper's MP, John Howell, had said that he intended to ask for a review of the sentences. The men were on their way home - they didn't have to respond - but they made a decision to go beyond the call of duty. "Nobody's been given a script it just seemed to take hold," said PC Harper's friend Andy Ledbury, who put up a blue ribbon outside his plant nursery. PC Harper was killed last August when he was dragged for more than a mile behind a car after trying to intercept quad bike thieves. PC Andrew Harper, 28, was dragged to his death by a car in Berkshire, prosecutors say 'The report, which was made by the homeowner, Peter Wallis, indicated that three or four masked and. Grieving officers lay tributes for killed newlywed colleague Pc Andrew Harper. On August 15 last year, PC Harper attended reports of a quad bike theft in Stanford Dingley, Berkshire, at about 11.17pm. Pc Shaw told jurors: I thought maybe he slipped on something. VideoChess gets a risqu makeover, The Nigerian influencers paid to manipulate your vote, How a baffling census delay is hurting Indians, How Mafia boss was caught at a clinic after 30 years. 'It was going beyond the call of duty, as it were, and it would cost Andrew Harper his life.'. I quickly realised it was a person. So proud of him. Judge Mr Justice Edis ruled it necessary to put measures in place to ensure the jury was not intimidated, even though the risk was "low". Follows the tireless campaigning of PC Andrew Harper's family Named after PC Andrew Harper, who was killed in the line of duty in 2019, the law will introduce mandatory life sentences. Mrs Harper said: "Should I speak again of how we were robbed of our future or the plans stolen from us? The Seat driver, Henry Long, 19, and passengers Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, both 18, from near Reading, are charged with his murder. They were acquitted on the charge of murder. The best way he could describe it was like a waterskier, he said: Feet whipped forward and you land on your back thats how Harps fell.. "[48] The law was added to the statute book on 28 April 2022[49] and is now law. "We are shocked and saddened by the death of our colleague". Security around the first trial into PC Harper's death was stepped up after police uncovered a plot by "associates of the defendants to intimidate the jury".
It looked like a rag doll.. The body of PC Andrew Harper's was 'too damaged' for his family to see, his mum revealed in a heartbreaking victim impact statement. PC Harper died after being dragged for more than a mile when his ankles became entangled in a tow rope attached to the car driven by Long as he fled the scene of an attempted quad bike theft in. Instead, he came across what turned out to be PC Harper's stab vest in the road, which had been torn from him. VideoChess gets a risqu makeover, The Nigerian influencers paid to manipulate your vote, How a baffling census delay is hurting Indians, How Mafia boss was caught at a clinic after 30 years. [3][11][12] At 23:28, Shaw and Harper happened upon a SEAT Toledo towing the stolen quad bike on Admoor Lane near Bradfield Southend. "Feet whipped forward and you land on your back - that's how Harps fell," PC Shaw said. The police officer Andrew Harper fell "as if his legs were whipped from under him" before being dragged to his death, a court has heard. Deborah Adlam spoke after her son's killers Henry Long, 19 . On Saturday, forensics officers were seen searching a caravan site on Padworth Road around three miles away from the scene, with two vans appearing to block the entrance. Mr Laidlaw said: ' Despite it being well beyond the end of their shift, because they were close and because thought they could help, they responded to the call. [35] In his summary, on the matter as to whether the jury had been subject to any improper pressure, Edis said: "To the best of my knowledge and belief there is no truth in that at all". Giving evidence, Pc Shaw described the moment his colleague appeared to fall over and disappear from view. [7][8] They had been expecting to go on their honeymoon in mid-August. What happened in the Ukraine helicopter crash? In July 2020, three teenage males were found guilty of manslaughter and received sentences of 16 and 13 years imprisonment. Both the Home Secretary Priti Patel and the Justice Secretary Dominic Raab credited Lissie Harper's campaign with convincing them to pass the law. "Our grandson Andrew was killed last night while doing his police work. Homeowner Peter Wallis called 999 to report a group stealing his quad bike in Stanford Dingley, Berkshire, at 11.17pm on 15 August last year. PC Shaw, giving evidence, described the moment that his crew-mate appeared to fall over and disappeared from view, saying it was like a water-skier. Mr Laidlaw said Long drove at an average speed of at least 42.5mph down the windy road. Ten males aged between 13 and 30 have been. The cause of death is consistent with our current belief that Andrew was caught between a vehicle and the road, and then dragged for a distance. [46], In August 2020, Harper's widow launched a campaign for a new law which would require life imprisonment for criminals whose actions result in the death of any police officer, prison officer, firefighter, nurse, doctor, or paramedic. Editors' Code of Practice. "Andrew will never grace us with his smile - his compassion and selfless generosity. 'With his ankles caught in a strap that was trailing behind a car being driven along a country lane, he was dragged at speed for over a mile along the road surface, swung from side to side like a pendulum in an effort to dislodge him. Eyewitness Jack Whittenham, who had been driving on the A4, described seeing Pc Harper's body being dragged on the road and hitting the curb, before he became detached from the Seat. Mr Laidlaw said: 'Henry Long continued to drive at speed for the next mile or so and he drove in a manner calculated to dislodge or shake the officer free from the strapping. 'The officer would be killed. He approved measures to provide a private room for jurors to use throughout the trial and ordered that anyone using the public gallery must provide photographic identification. [31], A retrial began on 23 June following changes to the UK's COVID-19 lockdown. Asked if he was home alone, Mr Wallis said: Yeah. Sign up to the Daily Star's newsletter. Harry Howard
Long has admitted manslaughter but denies intending to harm the 28-year-old officer. But theyre not taking my damn bike. Members of the public lined the streets to watch the funeral procession,[43] and over 800 people attended the service including Home Secretary Priti Patel and Oxford West and Abingdon MP Layla Moranboth of whom later paid respect to Harper in the House of Commons. The A4 Bath road was also closed again yesterday (August 17) while police officers carried out searches. 'Tragically, at that very moment and still in the act of chasing Jessie Cole down, PC Harper must have quite unwittingly stepped, with both feet, into the loop made of the strapping trailed behind the SEAT. Tributes from Pc Harper's family have been left on Facebook with his grandmother, Maureen Shrimpton, writing: "Just a really horrible day. (2) Long's application for permission to appeal against his sentence; and He was a rapid response officer with the force's roads and traffic command. The pair. NSW ZEALAND CASUALTIES. [24][25] On 19 September, the Crown Prosecution Service said that they had discontinued the case against a fifth defendant, a 20-year-old who had previously been charged with the murder. Chef, Sarah and Harry.". Police 'shocked and saddened' Video, 00:03:06, German police deny Greta's detainment was staged, US porn star declared unfit for sex crimes trial, Keep cake away from office, says food adviser, Maximum two drinks a week, Canada guidance advises, Germany: We are no longer reliant on Russian energy, Baby among six killed in possible cartel hit in US, Jeremy Renner TV show poster edited after accident. [42], Harper's funeral was held on 14 October 2019 at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. 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