Government indecision over release of PC Harper killers made police jobs harder, Badenoch says

Kemi Badenoch will argue that Government indecision regarding the early release of Pc Andrew Harper’s killers made his colleagues’ jobs harder.

Addressing the Police Federation, the Conservative leader will say that the role of a police officer has been "made harder" in recent years.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham initially opposed calls for further restrictions on the early release scheme after it emerged that Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, convicted in 2020 of Pc Harper’s manslaughter, would qualify next year.

Following a backlash, the Government announced that anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including all forms of manslaughter and death by dangerous driving, would be excluded.

Bowers and Cole, who received 13-year sentences, were passengers in the vehicle that dragged Pc Harper down a country road after he became caught in an attached strap as they fled a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in 2019.

Ms Badenoch will say in her speech: “The job of a police officer is to catch criminals and keep our streets safe. That is what the public expects. And it is also why people join the police.

“I know that in recent years your job has been made harder.

“PC Andrew Harper’s colleagues’ jobs were made harder, when they were told his killers were going to be released early from prison.”

The prime minister previously promised to do “everything possible” to ensure Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole were not released under the scheme designed to ease prison overcrowding.

Extra prison space will now be created by deporting foreign offenders and ending indefinite jail terms, which The Independent has relentlessly campaigned on for more than two years.

Elsewhere in her speech, the Tory leader is expected to say police officers have not had the backing they deserve.

“In recent years we have too often failed to recognise sacrifice and service,” she will say.

“Whether it’s hounding our brave veterans through the courts; or hounding police officers who tried to do the right thing through tribunals; or hounding ordinary members of the public who step in to help only to find themselves in trouble themselves.

“It’s no wonder that people in this country are becoming too scared to wade in, too scared to do the right thing.”