Prime Minister Andy Burnham has told the BBC that PC Andrew Harper's killers will remain behind bars as he announced changes to the early release scheme aimed at easing prison overcrowding. In an exclusive interview with BBC Breakfast, Burnham said anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including manslaughter, will be excluded from the scheme, which would have made two of the officer's killers eligible for early release. Burnham said extra prison space would be created by deporting foreign prisoners and releasing some inmates serving indefinite sentences.
It follows months of campaigning from PC Harper's family and former colleagues to block the release of his killers. The 28-year-old was responding to a burglary in Berkshire in 2019 when he was dragged along a road by a vehicle as three teenagers fled the scene of a quad bike theft. When it emerged that two of the killers, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, could be released early, there were passionate calls for the government to intervene and block those convicted of manslaughter from early release.
"I heard obviously what Andrew Harper's family were saying, I mean who couldn't? Nobody would want a position to arise where those guilty of killing a police officer are let out early from prison," Burnham told the BBC. He conceded the announcement will mean "hundreds" more people stay in prison, meaning additional space will need to be found in a system that is more than 97% full in England and Wales.
The prime minister said that will be achieved in-part through ending Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences, or IPPs. These were available between 2005 and 2012, and were given to offenders who pose a significant risk of causing serious harm to the public. Once a minimum term has been served, the prisoner can be released only once the Parole Board is satisfied they no longer need to be confined for public safety, meaning many are being held indefinitely.
Burnham said he had applied "common sense" on the treatment of IPPs, which he had "long-standing concerns" about. "I was faced with a situation where people on those sentences who have more than served their time, not being released when others who've committed very serious crimes being released early," he told the BBC. "The judgement I've made is the public, in my view, would prefer a situation where people who have served their time to be considered for release before those who haven't." According to Ministry of Justice data, 2,271 people are serving IPP sentences as of June.
Of those, 856 have never been released because the Parole Board thought it was not safe to do so. Burnham conceded that of those offenders, there will be "individuals who will pose a risk to communities", and said a cross-party oversight group would be established. The government will table legislation to terminate the sentences by the "end of this Parliament", he added.
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