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Elizabeth Bratton writes about the recent verdict that finds three guilty of manslaughter. PC Andrew Harper was killed last year, after being dragged along a road for over a mile. Mr. Harper was newlywed, and was preparing for his honeymoon in the Maldives. After a complicated and disrupted trial, his wife is dissatisfied with the outcome, and many feel that the convicted lack remorse.
Three teenagers have been found guilty of manslaughter, after PC Andrew Harper was killed on the 15th of August 2019. The 28-year-old police constable was responding to a burglary call, when his ankles became trapped in a vehicle’s tow rope, and was dragged along a Berkshire road for over a mile.
The convicted had been trying to steal a quad bike, and drove off at “breakneck” speed, as Harper tried to apprehend them. Henry Long, aged 19, drove Mr. Harper to his death, as he was effectively “lassoed” to the vehicle. Long had previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Passengers Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, both aged 19, were also found guilty of manslaughter, as opposed to the greater charge of murder. All three claimed not to know that Mr. Harper had become entangled in the rope; the defence described the tragedy as a “freak accident”.
Prosecutors described how Harper was "swung from side to side like a pendulum" as the convicted drove towards the A4. Jonathan Laidlaw, Queen’s Counsel, believes the teenagers were willing to cause “serious harm” to others, to “commit the offence of theft or to secure their escape”. The prosecution maintained that those in the car were aware of Harper being in difficulty, as he measured 6ft tall, and weighed 14 stone.
Andrew Harper had only been married to Lissie for a month when he died. Mrs Harper is “shocked and appalled”, having learnt that her husband’s killers would not be charged with murder, and said the verdict “will make no difference to the heart-wrenching pain [she] will continue to feel for the rest of [her] life”. She went on to describe her husband’s killing as “barbaric” and “inexplicable”, highlighting how “immensely disappointed” she feels by the decision.
Mr Harper’s killers have been accused of showing “no remorse”. Detective Superintendent Stuart Blaik led the search for his colleague’s killers, and remarked that the teenagers took a "conscious decision not to assist police from the outset". He concluded, "I don't think for one minute these three defendants set out to kill a police officer that night but there was a point when the police and the three of them came together and they made a decision and that decision has had catastrophic consequences." Blaik also criticised the defendants’ friends and family who “frustrated” the police officers. The three teenagers reportedly joked and laughed throughout the March trial, while Long reportedly told officers he didn’t “give a f***”, when he was charged.
After one court appearance, Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole could be seen smiling and laughing.
In July 2018, Long described how he would “ram” any police officers that challenged him. However, this recording was ruled inadmissable in the trial. Providing evidence at the Old Bailey, the 19-year-old said he felt “disgraceful” about the incident. He elaborated, “If I was aware I would have stopped the vehicle, tried to save him,” he told the jury. “I accept that I killed him from what I was doing, the way I was driving.” He denied being able to hear anything unusual.
The first trial in March “collapsed” after the emergence of COVID-19; two jurors also had to quarantine, after displaying symptoms. Even up to that point, proceedings had been relatively fitful, as jurors became susceptible to intimidation.. As the second trial commenced, “special measures” were put in place, as to protect the jury from tampering. On Friday the 24th of July, a juror was caught communicating with the defendants. She cannot be named, although was described as acting in an “overtly friendly manner” towards them. A prison officer had noted the “remarkable” behaviour, having “seen a juror smiling at the dock and therefore the defendants more than once during the day. However, as she left she walked by the defendants and said: 'Bye boys'."
PC Andrew Harper is remembered as "the gentle giant with a heart of gold" and a "light in the dark". At the time of his death, he had been raising money for children with cancer, hoping to collect £500. Merely weeks later, funds had surpassed £300,000,
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