Andy Burnham's decision to pause the plan for the early release of prisoners is a “good start” but “not enough”, the mother of police officer Andrew Harper has said.
Background of the early release scheme
Under the new Sentencing Act set to come into force in September, some 6,000 criminals were due to be released under the early prison release scheme. The family of Pc Harper criticised the fact that two of his killers were being considered for early release.
Mr Burnham said that he had instructed his team to “put a pause on the changes”, adding: “No prisoners will be let out under this policy until we have conducted an urgent review and done everything we can to minimise risk to the public.”
Family reaction
Pc Harper’s mother Debbie Adlam later told ITV News: “It’s not enough. It’s a good start, and it really is a good basis to begin working on some sensible alternatives and looking at options for going forward, because there’s so many people this affects, it’s not just us. It’s incredibly personal to us, but it’s not just us. And I think it really needs a good looking at, not just a quick meeting and ‘that’s it, we’ll move on’. It needs to be looked at thoroughly and that’s what I’m hoping for. We want to see some results from it.”
Details of the case
Pc Harper was 28 years old when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019. The driver of the vehicle that caused Pc Harper’s death, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence, and would not have been eligible for the scheme. But early release was on the cards for Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were passengers in the car and handed 13 years in custody for manslaughter after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2020. Both men could have become eligible to be released from prison after serving half of their sentences, rather than two-thirds.
Lissie Harper, Pc Harper’s widow, described the scheme as “deplorable”.
