Prime Minister Andy Burnham has abandoned a plan to prevent the early release of PC Andrew Harper's killers, as doing so would likely trigger significant legal challenges and exacerbate prison overcrowding. The proposal to exempt individuals who kill emergency service personnel from a scheme aimed at freeing up space in overcrowded jails was deemed a "non-starter" by legal advisors.
The decision means that Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, convicted of manslaughter in the 2019 death of PC Harper, remain eligible for early release after serving half of their 13-year sentences. PC Harper, 28, died in August 2019 while responding to a report of a stolen quad bike. He sustained fatal injuries after becoming entangled in a strap attached to a getaway vehicle. The driver, Henry Long, was sentenced to 16 years, while Cole and Bowers received 13-year sentences for manslaughter in 2020.
This controversial early release scheme is expected to result in the freeing of approximately 5,000 other inmates over a 10-month period, starting in October. This figure was already reduced from an initial estimate of 6,000 following an urgent review that excluded prisoners convicted of rape, serious child sex offenses, and other grooming offenses.
Burnham had previously stated that excluding these categories of offenders had pushed the prison system "to the very limits of what is possible to do without risking the prison system reaching capacity and collapsing." The attempt to create a specific exemption for those who kill emergency workers was reportedly quashed by civil servants who advised that any such exception would necessitate extending it to all prisoners convicted of manslaughter.
A petition calling for Cole and Bowers to remain incarcerated has garnered over 850,000 signatures. A government source indicated to The Daily Telegraph that the Prime Minister was prepared to "explore every option" to block their release. However, reports suggest civil servants have informed the government that blocking the release of Cole and Bowers would require withholding the early release of nearly 1,000 other prisoners convicted of manslaughter, a move that would strain the already overburdened prison system further.