Andy Burnham has responded to a heartbreaking plea from PC Andrew Harper's sister, Aimee Harper, vowing to do everything he can to prevent two of her brother's killers from being released from prison.
In a direct message to Ms Harper, the Prime Minister said he was "turning every stone" to stop Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, who were convicted of manslaughter, from being freed. His comments follow a plea from 50 police chiefs urging him to explore every legal avenue to prevent their release.
PM's direct message to sister
Ms Harper, 27, had told LBC of her anguish sitting in the courtroom at their trial and her disbelief that they could be let out next year. Asked what he would directly say to her, Mr Burnham replied: "That I hear you, I feel for you. I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't do everything I possibly could to try and lessen your anguish, and I am doing that.
"I am turning over every stone. I am looking at everything. I am pushing the system to go further." He added: "That's the way I go about my job. I listen to people. I continually push myself and the system to do more. In this instance, I think there is more that can be done."
Killers could be freed next year
PC Harper was dragged to his death behind a speeding car as he investigated a burglary in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019. He was 28. Henry Long, who was 18 at the time, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 16 years in jail. Bowers and Cole were convicted after a trial and jailed for 13 years each. While Long is not eligible under new early release rules, his accomplices could leave prison next year.
Ms Harper told LBC she was stunned Bowers and Cole could be released before she reaches her brother's age when he died. "I never imagined they could be out before then," she said. "That was supposed to be the next big milestone for me."
Government's early release scheme
The government set out its early release scheme while Keir Starmer was PM to tackle the prison crisis. Jails in England and Wales are at 97% capacity. Justice Secretary Alex Norris is looking at ways to ease the capacity crisis, including freeing up spaces in women's prisons, returning foreign criminals and looking at cases where convicts have been given an indeterminate jail term.
Mr Burnham said on Tuesday he is confident a way can be found to prevent Cole and Bowers being released. But insiders warned this could be tricky. Tom Wheatley, President of the Prison Governors Association, told the BBC: "Many of those things carry risk and many of those things are difficult to do."
Mr Wheatley said that repatriating foreign national offenders could mean British prisoners serving sentences overseas going the other way, so it "nets out". He added: "If it was easy to do, I am confident it would have been done by the Home Office many years ago because this prison population problem has been around consistently and various governments have had a go at trying to tackle it."
He also warned that many of those serving indefinite sentences could be a higher risk to the public now than when they were jailed. "That also comes with risk, because some of these people have been in prison for a long time and, to be frank, are more dangerous now than they were when they came into prison in the first place," he said. Closing women's prisons could also impact the court system, he warned: "If you close prisons and repurpose them and put men in currently women's prisons, you lose some of that geographical coverage and it becomes very difficult for the prison service to get female offenders to court in time."
Mr Burnham promised to continue carefully: "I'm not making comments today in a knee-jerk way because I wouldn't raise false hope of people. I'm doing it in a considered way, having looked in detail at the situation, having considered a range of advice. I am confident that we can develop a plan to free up more spaces in the prison estate, so that we can ensure more serious offenders serve their full term."
When he became PM, Mr Burnham ordered a review and announced last week that sex offenders and groomers would not be eligible for early release. He said he was unable to go any further but now faces pressure to find a way to exclude those guilty of manslaughter.
There are also worries about how the probation service will cope. Martin Jones, chief inspector of probation for England and Wales, told the BBC: "Probation services are already under unprecedented pressure. They're managing a caseload of 258,000 cases, that's nearly three times the number that are in our prisons, and obviously the early release scheme will be increasing that pressure considerably."
Questioned about potential risk to the public once early releases begin, Mr Jones said it "could be a serious sexual or violent offence or even murder". He said: "The worst that can happen is that things are missed, plans aren't put into place and we don't give people the level of service they need and that leads to serious further offences."
