THE PRIME MINISTER IS BEING WATCHED: POLICE LEADER WARNS ANDY BURNHAM HE WILL BE JUDGED OVER PC HARPER’S ƘI̢ĹL̡ẾⱤŚ… AS PETITION TO BLOCK THEIR RELEASE SURGES PAST 800,000

Police tell Burnham: Public will judge your decision on Pc Harper killers

Federation chief warns Prime Minister is ‘being watched’ as petition against early release hits more than 800,000 signatures

Andy Burnham will be judged by his handling of the early release crisis and whether Pc Andrew Harper’s killers are set free, a police leader has claimed.

Brian Booth, the deputy national chairman of the Police Federation, said the Prime Minister must use his “common sense” to intervene and would be judged by any failure to block the early release of Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole.

The Telegraph revealed last month that the pair, who were jailed for 13 years in 2020 for the manslaughter of Pc Harper, 28, were eligible to be released after serving half of their sentence.

Their release is part of Labour’s plan to free 5,000 prisoners early over 10 months from October to free up places in overcrowded jails.

A petition organised by the Police Federation, which represents 145,000 officers, to block the release of Pc Harper’s killers has been signed by more than 800,000 people.

Pc Harper, 28, died after investigating the theft of a £10,000 quad bike in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019. Bowers and Cole, then 17, tried to escape in a car driven by Henry Long, 18. Pc Harper’s ankles were caught in the car’s tow rope and he was dragged for over a mile in the dark at 43mph.

Mr Booth told BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House show: “I hope [Mr Burnham] comes through with some common sense.

“He needs to intervene… the Prime Minister is being watched not just by the 828,000 signatories but by the far wider public on how he deals with this incident.”

It comes after The Telegraph revealed on Friday that Mr Burnham was considering performing an about turn and would “explore every option” to block their release.

The Prime Minister had commissioned a review shortly after entering Downing Street which recommended blocking the release of rapists and serious child sexual offenders from the scheme but not criminals guilty of manslaughter.

Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Burnham said he had “pushed to the very limits of what is possible” but could not exempt more criminals without the prison system “collapsing within months”.

However, backlash from campaigners and police chiefs has continued to grow, forcing Mr Burnham to reassess whether Pc Harper’s killers could be carved out of the early release scheme.

It is understood civil servants have presented Mr Burnham with two plans. The first would block the early release of all prisoners guilty of manslaughter, but there are concerns that this would place too much pressure on the overcrowded prison system.

The alternative would be to block the release of all prisoners responsible for the death of emergency service workers, the number of whom is believed to be significantly lower.

Mr Booth said he would support such a measure and the Police Federation was in favour of a clause “put in to protect our emergency services”.

He said: “Out of common sense and reasonableness, these individuals should be special cases and they should be able to be dealt with by the Secretary of State who should be able to overturn it in the public interest, and we know we have great public interest here.

“We have 828,000 signatures [on our petition] and that’s increasing.”

On Sunday night, Reform UK said it would scrap early release entirely for murder, serious violent crimes and rape so that criminals served their entire sentence in prison.

Although Mr Burnham has blocked rapists and serious child sexual offenders from being freed halfway through their sentences, they would still be eligible for release after serving two-thirds of their sentence under existing rules.

Reform said it would also reintroduce prison sentences of 12 months or fewer. Labour had all but removed these in March, instead instructing courts to issue suspended sentences.

While these policies would increase the prison population by approximately 18,000 inmates according to Reform, the party said its existing policy to deport all foreign criminals and create 12,000 additional spaces in temporary “Nightingale prisons” would provide capacity.

The party also reiterated its commitment to deport foreign criminals to El Salvador and Kosovo if it was not satisfied that foreign criminals would be properly incarcerated in their country of origin.

Zia Yusuf, the party’s home affairs spokesman, said: “Reform will bring back justice to Britain, ensuring those who commit serious crimes like murder, rape and serious violence serve their full sentences.”

Federation considers judicial review

The Police Federation is considering bringing legal action in the form of a judicial review against the Government if it does not block Cole and Bowers from the early release scheme.

Mr Booth said: “We need to look at every legal avenue. It’s currently sat with our solicitors, they’re looking at whether it could be a judicial review which would be the quickest way to try and have an overturn of these decisions that have been made but it’s our only route that’s going to be available to us.”

He added: “This early release policy…it’s a sticking plaster. [It] doesn’t make police officers feel protected or make the public feel protected. We are going down a very dangerous path here with the early release of violent individuals.”

Mr Booth said the Government needed to build more prisons and increase capacity, saying that there was a courts backlog of 150,000 cases that would put more pressure on the crumbling system.

Since Labour came to power two years ago, it has created about 3,200 new prison spaces and opened HMP Millsike in Yorkshire. It has targeted creating 14,000 additional places by 2031.