A petition calling on Labour to block the early release of two men convicted of killing PC Andrew Harper has hit one million signatures.
The petition is calling for Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Justice Secretary Alex Norris to prevent two out of three of PC Harper’s killers, Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, from walking free.
Mr Burnham has ordered Justice Secretary Alex Norris to draw up plans to free up prison space for serious offenders.
The Prime Minister added he is “increasingly confident” PC Harper’s killers will not be released early from their sentences as a result.
PC Harper was fatally injured when he got caught in a strap attached to the back of a car and was dragged down a country road as the killers fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in 2019.
Bowers and Cole are set to be released next year halfway through their 13-year sentences, after being convicted of manslaughter in 2020.
Before this year’s Sentencing Act, they would have served two-thirds of their term.
Mr Burnham previously said he had “pushed the very limits” in the changes he had made to the early release scheme but has now said he can go further.
The petition was set up by the chairman of the Thames Valley Police Federation, Aileen O’Connor, who previously told GB News: “The public support is absolutely unbelievable and really at the heart of this and the heart of this petition and what I’m fighting for.
“Because this isn’t just a couple of 100 or a couple of thousand cops up and down the country that are outraged about this. This is the great British public that are behind that campaign and that feel as strongly as what I do.
“This is what my members and cops up and down this country feel, the justice hasn’t been served for PC Andrew Harper.
“I am eternally grateful for those individuals that have taken the time to do that. But I’m not done. We’re not there and we haven’t had the change in the legislation. We haven’t had a guarantee that this won’t happen.”
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Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has come under pressure from 50 policing leaders from across the UK to use “every lawful option” to prevent the early release of PC Harper’s killers.
A letter from chief constables and other law enforcement leaders also called on Mr Burnham to “establish an additional public protection safeguard” for the most serious offenders when future early release schemes are floated.
The chiefs, who included Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson and National Crime Agency director general Graeme Biggar, also said families and victims “must be properly considered whenever significant changes are made to sentencing or release arrangements”.
Mr Burnham ordered a review of the early release scheme under the Sentencing Act shortly after taking office, but while changes were announced to prevent rapists and paedophiles from being released early, the measures did not cover PC Harper’s killers.
Asked by LBC he would directly say to PC Harper’s widow, 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.”
The Prime Minister 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.”
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