Andy Burnham removed rapists from the scheme, but around 5,000 offenders remain eligible, including two of the men jailed over the officer’s death
Two of the men who killed PC Andrew Harper remain eligible for early release from prison. Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s review of the scheme removed rapists and serious child sex offenders, but not those convicted of manslaughter.
Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole were jailed for 13 years in 2020 for the manslaughter of the Thames Valley officer. Under the new rules, they can be considered for release after serving six and a half years. Henry Long, who drove the car, is not eligible. His 16-year extended sentence sits outside the scheme.
What Burnham’s review changed
The Prime Minister paused the release of 6,000 offenders last month after The Telegraph revealed that Bowers and Cole qualified. After the review, around 1,000 rapists and serious child sexual offenders were removed from the scheme. Around 5,000 offenders remain eligible, including those convicted of manslaughter and domestic abuse.
Writing in The Telegraph, Burnham said he had wanted to ‘go even further’. He said officials warned him that blocking more releases risked the prison system collapsing. The capacity pressure is real. Prisons in England and Wales hold around 86,500 people against an operational capacity of roughly 88,900, according to Ministry of Justice figures.
No debate, no vote for MPs
Downing Street plans to bring the measures into force during Parliament’s summer recess through a Commencement Order under the Sentencing Act 2026. Unlike ordinary legislation, a Commencement Order gives MPs no opportunity to force a debate or a vote.
‘Andrew deserves better than this’
PC Harper, 28, died on 15 August 2019 after his ankles caught in a towrope loop and he was dragged for more than a mile along country roads near Sulhamstead, Berkshire. He had gone to investigate the theft of a quad bike.
His widow, Lissie Harper, described the decision as an ‘utter betrayal’ and an ‘affront to justice’, Sky News reported. His mother, Debbie Adlam, told BBC Breakfast she was ‘bitterly disappointed’, adding: ‘Andrew deserves better than this, and so do we.’
Justice Secretary Alex Norris apologised to the family on Tuesday. ‘This should not be a position that Andrew Harper’s family should find themselves in’, he said.
‘This is not justice. How is that any form of deterrent for anybody that can go out and commit a crime and take the life of a police officer?’ — Aileen O’Connor, Thames Valley Police Federation
Thames Valley police leaders have united against the release. Aileen O’Connor, chairman of the Thames Valley Police Federation, said: ‘This is not justice. How is that any form of deterrent for anybody that can go out and commit a crime and take the life of a police officer?’ She has vowed to fight the decision and says a judicial review is possible.
Pressure from every side
Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy wrote to Burnham on Tuesday night urging emergency legislation when Parliament returns. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Labour ‘had to be dragged into this U-turn’ and that the exemptions ‘don’t go far enough’. The Liberal Democrats want anyone jailed for killing an emergency worker excluded.
Burnham faces criticism from his own benches too. Rotherham Labour MP Sarah Champion said she was ‘deeply concerned’ about domestic abusers being freed early. She warned there was ’no reassurance that these manipulative aggressors will have changed’.
The Sentencing Act 2026 moves the release point earlier for many fixed-term sentences to ease overcrowding. Harper’s Law, brought in after the officer’s death, increased sentences for killing emergency workers. It does not override the new release rules for manslaughter convictions.
The Telegraph reported the pair could walk free by the end of the year. Release at that point is not automatic: it depends on decisions taken at the halfway stage, and the scheme’s rollout has already been delayed.
No offender in this group has yet been freed under the new rules. Bowers and Cole remain eligible for consideration at the halfway point of their sentences, and O’Connor’s federation is weighing legal action.
