Downing Street’s failure to block the early release of Pc Andrew Harper’s killers is “indefensible”, a Police Federation chief has said as she considers taking legal action against the Government.
Aileen O’Connor urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to “listen” to the public after No 10 again resisted pressure to keep Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers behind bars next year.
Some 5,000 people are expected to be released early under sentencing changes, down from 6,000 after some exemptions were announced as part of an urgent review of the scheme designed to tackle jail overcrowding.
Under current plans, Cole and Bowers remain eligible to be freed in January, halfway through their 13-year sentences after they were convicted of manslaughter in 2020 following Pc Harper’s death in 2019.
More than 880,000 people have signed a petition calling for them to remain in jail, but Downing Street on Monday said it was “not possible” to exempt only “one or two offenders” convicted of manslaughter from the scheme.
In a statement, Ms O’Connor, who chairs the body that represents officers in Pc Harper’s former force, Thames Valley Police, responded: “The public are speaking loudly and clearly.
“They agree with us that the Government are firmly on the wrong side of this.
“What they are doing is indefensible. And they simply cannot defend it.
“They must listen. The Prime Minister must listen.”
She added: “If you kill a police officer there should be no early release. No ifs. No buts.”
Asked earlier on Monday whether the Government was exploring options to keep them in jail, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman downplayed the prospect of a carve-out.
No 10 said manslaughter of an emergency worker was “not a standalone offence” and it was “not possible to simply exclude one or two offenders” within the wider category of manslaughter.
Asked whether ministers were accepting the situation as it stands, the spokesman said: “I think you’ve seen from the Prime Minister’s words that he’s far from accepting the situation and as he wrote last week he wants to go even further.
“He’s pushed hard on what more we could do and his focus now is on fixing the prison system long-term to avoid a repeat of this prison crisis so that it never happens again.”
Pressed on whether the Prime Minister was admitting there was nothing more he could do, the official said: “He understands the public wants him to go further, and he wanted to go further.
“But on the wider issue that prisons would have run out of space, police would stop making arrests, it would be impossible to lock up convicted offenders and that would put public safety at untold risk.”
Mr Burnham said last week he had “pushed to the very limits of what is possible to do without risking the prison system reaching capacity and collapsing” by excluding sentences for “rape, serious child sex offences and other grooming offences” from eligibility.
Pc Harper’s family have expressed anger and disappointment at the decision not to exempt Cole and Bowers, while the boss of his former force said he was considering joining a potential legal challenge mooted by Ms O’Connor over the Government plans.
The officer was 28 when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019.
He died after getting caught in a strap attached to the back of a car and being dragged down a country road as three teenage suspects fled the scene of the burglary.
The driver of the vehicle, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence and would not be eligible for release.
Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Jason Hogg said last week he was receiving legal advice on whether the force could join legal action threatened by local Police Federation chief Ms O’Connor to prevent Cole and Bowers being freed.
The early release changes were part of the Sentencing Act passed earlier this year that cut the minimum amount of time many offenders would have to spend in prison.
Those freed will face tougher probation conditions, including electronic monitoring, random drug testing and possible bans from driving, pubs and events such as football matches.
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