Love from Nan and Bubba xxx". The widow was speaking before her husband's teenage killers were sentenced following their manslaughter conviction last week. I just knew he was in trouble.". "Pc Harper was a beautiful young soul. Please report any comments that break our rules. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The officer had been married for just four weeks. Police officers launched a murder probe following a "serious incident" which took place at around 11.30pm near to the crossroads of Ufton Lane and Lambdens Hill, near Sulhampstead between Reading and Newbury. [30] During this subsequently abandoned trial, Thames Valley Police said they had received intelligence suggesting possible jury intimidation. [39], On 28 August, Long applied for permission to appeal against his sentence, on the basis that it was too severe. Blue silk posies tied to street posts marked the area where the 28-year-old Thames Valley police officer fell after being dragged more than a mile behind a car on the night of August 15 last year. ', The comments below have not been moderated, By 'It was going beyond the call of duty, as it were, and it would cost Andrew Harper his life.'. 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"They came round earlier and now they're at my property in Stanford Dingley.". Bowers was in the car as a passenger when PC Harper was killed. Pc Shaw told jurors: I thought maybe he slipped on something. [34] On 24 July, the three defendants were cleared of murder. On August 17 2019, Thames Valley Police's . In an update given near the scene, Thames Valley Police spokesman Jack Abell said an emergency call was made reporting a burglary at a residential property at 11.18pm on Thursday. [26] The trial, which was being held during the COVID-19 pandemic, resumed on 19 March after two of the jurors were discharged because they were self-isolating. Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw QC said: "What then follows, you leave the car and had the gruesome discovery that body is your colleague. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. The 28-year-old was killed when he was dragged behind a car. [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. But while his colleagues mourned the death of one of their own, detectives were required to push emotions aside for the murder investigation. Grieving officers lay tributes for killed newlywed colleague Pc Andrew Harper. A tragic series of events that led to the gruesome discovery of Pc Andrew Harper lying catastrophically injured in a country lane has been played out in court. The jury was shown footage of the incident, recorded on a camera attached to the officers' unmarked police car. They came round earlier and now theyre at my property in Stanford Dingley.. [16] On 23 March, along with all other jury trials in England and Wales, the trial was suspended pending a review of operations amid the spread of COVID-19. 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 Harper, 28, was dragged for more than a mile along the country lanes of Berkshire when he became entangled in a tow rope attached to the teenagers' getaway car. '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.'. Mr Laidlaw said: 'PC Harper was completely naked apart from his socks, the heavy boots he was wearing and some ripped shreds of the trousers of his police uniform, which remained attached to his body. In a statement read in court, he said: For a very brief second I thought the body had been a deer I quickly realised it was a person. [8] On 28 January 2020, Harper was given a posthumous award by the Police Federation of England and Wales. "Feet whipped forward and you land on your back - that's how Harps fell," PC Shaw said. They were acquitted on the charge of murder. His wife described him . Deborah Adlam spoke after her son's killers Henry Long, 19, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, both 18, where convicted of manslaughter. An officer has shared the moment he made the gruesome discovery of PC Andrew Harper who was lying gravely injured in a country lane. [24], The murder trial, presided over by Mr. Justice Andrew Edis, began at the Old Bailey on 10 March 2020. An Old Bailey jury acquitted all three defendants of murder on Friday, instead convicting Cole and Bowers of manslaughter. As the documentary recalled. The vehicle, surrounded by police tape and a floodlight, was partially visible through a gap in the fence. "You obviously did your best to attend to PC Harper. 'The officer would be killed. What happened in the Ukraine helicopter crash? His funeral was. Recommended PC Andrew Harper's killer 'should be. It was a killing that sparked tributes across the world and an "outpouring of love" for a police officer who was killed in the line of duty. His grandmother Maureen Shrimpton wrote: "Just a really horrible day. Thames Valley Police said on Saturday it had been granted an extra 36 hours to question the suspects. Three teenagers are on trial at the Old Bailey accused of murder over an incident in Berkshire last August. He added that he set off in his car to find PC Harper, and came across his stab vest further up the road. Deborah Adlam, the mother of PC Andrew Harper, said her first-born had been "ripped" from her, PC Andrew Harper was killed by three teenagers trying to steal a quad bike, Lissie Harper, the widow of PC Andrew Harper, Lissie and Andrew had been married for just one month when he was killed, PC Andrew Harper and his wife, Lissie, celebrating their wedding, (left to right), Henry Long, 19, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, both 18, were convicted of manslaughter. The trio admitted conspiring to steal a quad bike along with Thomas King, 21, from Basingstoke. Jurors were shown harrowing footage of the incident recorded on camera attached to the officers unmarked BMW patrol car. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Asked if he was home alone, Mr Wallis said: Yeah. [48] Harper's Law did not affect the sentences of the three men already imprisoned for killing Andrew Harper.[50]. Police release update on PC Andrew Harpers death, READ MORE: Murder investigation launched as policeman killed in line of duty, READ MORE: Family release image of newlywed policeman PC Harper, READ MORE: Police raid travellers' site as part of murder probe. "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.". 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. Advertisement. To drive at such speeds and "seek to throw the officer free" was a "clear indication there was an intention in all three to kill him", Mr Laidlaw told the jury. Cole ran directly past the police car and dived through the backseat passenger window after the officer came close to catching him in the interception at around 11.38pm, jurors were told. With the strapping laying loose on the ground, Cole then tried to get into the SEAT car but was unable to, he said. In the call, Mr Wallis added: Theres all sorts of pieces of wood out there, they can pick up anything. [2] Investigations showed that Harper was dragged 1 mile (1.6km) in 91 seconds, with the defendants averaging 42.5 miles per hour (68.4km/h). Bowers and Cole's applications for permission to appeal against their sentences were granted, to enable the Court of Appeal to correct an error made in their sentencing for the offence of conspiracy to steal. "That's the reason in particular this question defeats me - unless you have stood in my shoes, lost a soulmate, a beloved partner you intended to spend your life with - how is this grief possible to describe? 'How could he possibly survive if the car continued to be driven away and for some distance?'. Mr Justice Edis told them: 'The vehicles have been put in similar positions to the position they would have been in during part of the incident.'. 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. I have no motivation or even daily routine - chores or cooking a meal, it just feels pointless now. Both the Home Secretary Priti Patel and the Justice Secretary Dominic Raab credited Lissie Harper's campaign with convincing them to pass the law. Det Supt Blaik said PC Harper "paid the ultimate price" for going beyond the call of duty, but added "that is what police officers do up and down the country, day in and day out". 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. The first stop was the Bull Inn, where the defendants were allegedly spotted before a first failed attempt to steal the quad bike. Harper and a fellow officer were responding to a report of a burglary, after which Harper was dragged behind a car for a mile at 50 to 70mph, causing his death. A police officer called to the aftermath of the death of PC Andrew Harper saw his body tumbling in the road, a court has heard. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Long has admitted to manslaughter and denies trying to harm PC Harper. Photographs of the pair on their wedding day at Ardington House, a Georgian manor in Oxfordshire, have been released. [42], Harper's funeral was held on 14 October 2019 at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. '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. When he told the operator he was going outside to stop the thieves, he was told not to - but Mr Wallis continued to refuse. The father of Pc Andrew Harper has said the family are "devastated" following his death. Mr Laidlaw said Long drove at an average speed of at least 42.5mph down the windy road. (1) the Attorney-General's application for permission to refer the sentences as unduly lenient; Its clear he has a catastrophic series of injuries and theres nothing that can be done for him.. Oh, they are stealing my quad bike, Im going out there now., The operator told him not to go out, but Mr Wallis said: I dont care, Ive got to protect that bike., The operator said officers were on their way, adding: You cant go out there if theyve got a weapon, you are going to be hurt., He responds: Theres all sorts of pieces of wood out there, they can pick up anything. Media reported that in total, 10 males aged between 13 and 30 had been arrested. You obviously did your best to attend to Pc Harper. "So proud of him. The body of PC Andrew Harper's was 'too damaged' for his family to see, his mum revealed in a heartbreaking victim impact statement. "Four weeks was all I had with my husband - four weeks to be called his wife. The Seat driver Henry Long, 19, and his passengers Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, both 18, from near Reading, have admitted conspiring to steal the 10,000 quad bike but have denied Pc Harper's murder. [37], On 4 August, the Attorney General's Office confirmed that it had received a request to review the sentences under the unduly lenient sentence scheme. Detective Supt Ailsa Kent added: "I can confirm that the males were arrested from a local authority-run caravan and mobile home site, Four Houses Corner, in Reading Road near Burghfield Common. At 11.17pm on August 15 last. A coroner carried out a Post Mortem report to determine the cause of death, which has been recorded as "multiple injuries". Jurors stopped briefly to examine posts at the side of the road on Lambdens Hill before disembarking at the A4 crossing. Read about our approach to external linking. and Det Supt Blaik said the defendants made a "conscious decision" "not to assist the police" and said their family and friends had tried to "frustrate" the investigation. Mr Laidlaw said all three defendants should have known the consequences of their actions. At the time of the killing last year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the officer's death was "the most powerful reminder that police officers up and down the country put themselves at risk every single day to keep us safe". NSW ZEALAND CASUALTIES. The prosecutor said Pc Andrew Shaw, Pc Andrew Harper's colleague, 'quickly realised something was very wrong' when PC Harper disappeared from view while trying to apprehend the suspect. Fellow officers have been laying flowers at the scene of the death throughout the morning. PC Harper's mother, Debbie Adlam, is campaigning for Andrew's Law. However, the trial collapsed due to the coronavirus lockdown. In July 2020, three teenage males were found guilty of manslaughter and received sentences of 16 and 13 years imprisonment. I sincerely hope that IF convicted the judge involved throws the book at him and jails him for the rest of his life. "Andrew was such a good man, a brave, a caring person, funny and uplifting. 'It was a senseless killing of a young police officer in the line of duty, a young man who was doing no more than his job.'. 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. 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 from the roads policing unit at Abingdon Police Station was attending a reported burglary and was killed while performing his duties. 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