Early release of two PC Andrew Harper's killers under review, Sky News understands

Early prison release policy is still under review as the government considers options available to block the release of PC Andrew Harper's killers, Sky News understands. 

Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced earlier this week that rapists, groomers and those who have committed serious child sexual offences will be excluded from the policy, which is set to free at least 5.000 people earlier in their sentences from October.

The PM said he wanted to "go further" with additional exemptions, but could not do so because of prison capacity.

PC Harper was killed in 2019 while he responded to reports of a burglary. He was dragged along a country road for more than a mile after his ankle became caught in the getaway car's towrope loop.

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Two of his killers Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, convicted of manslaughter, would be eligible for release at the halfway point of their sentence, rather than two-thirds under this week's version of the policy.

The other killer, Henry Long, has a longer sentence which would prevent him from being released early under the scheme - he would need to be seen by the Parole Board before any release.

It is understood that the government is still evaluating potential methods to exclude Bowers and Cole from the policy, which became law earlier this year, as well as other carve-outs.

Exemptions have previously relied on blocking blanket offence groups, such as rape, from the criteria for early release eligibility.

There are concerns in government about blocking manslaughter in addition to the other exclusions, because there are currently around 1,000 people serving sentences for manslaughter.

The fear is that exempting them all would not have the desired effect of the policy on prison capacity and overcrowding. However, not all of them would necessarily be eligible for early release, because they could have committed other offences on the list of exclusions.

Officials say the original plans excluded around 18,000 offenders, such as those serving life sentences for crimes like murder or terrorism offences.

There are calls to make an amendment that would exclude manslaughter against an emergency worker, but this is not a specific offence, and so the government has so far said it is not possible.

However, those campaigning to prevent Harper's killers from being released are calling for "urgent political direction from ministers" - and for them to consider a subset clause in the legislation.

Thames Valley Police's Conservative police and crime commissioner, Matthew Barber, has said he believes that less than 10 people are in prison for manslaughter against an emergency worker, and an exemption could be made manually without impacting the prison population too significantly.

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He has also pointed to Harper's Law, created after PC Harper's death, which means that anyone convicted of killing an emergency worker while committing a crime would face a mandatory life sentence.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "The death of PC Andrew Harper was a horrific crime. Our thoughts are with his family and friends, and we share the anger from the police community that we are in this position.

"We have been clear that we wanted to go further and block more offenders from getting out sooner into their sentence but could not do so without risking prisons reaching capacity and collapsing.

"If that happened, police could not make arrests, courts could not remand offenders and there would be unchecked criminality on our streets."

(c) Sky News 2026: Early release of two PC Andrew Harper's killers under review, Sky News understands