Prime Minister Andy Burnham has told his justice secretary to find a way to exclude PC Andrew Harper’s killers from an early release scheme designed to ease prison overcrowding.
Burnham is confident a solution can be found to remove Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter in 2020, from the government plan, the BBC has been told.
Downing Street had earlier warned that it would not be possible to exclude “one or two offenders” convicted of manslaughter from the early release of prisoners.
PC Harper, 28, from Wallingford, Oxfordshire, died in 2019 when he was dragged behind the getaway car of three teenagers who had fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Berkshire.
Under changes to the Sentencing Act made this year, Cole and Bowers, who were found not guilty of murder, will become eligible for release from custody next January after serving half of their sentences.
They are in a category of prisoners – those who have committed certain serious violent or sexual crimes – who until now would have had to serve at least two-thirds of their sentence in jail before being considered for release.
It is not yet clear how the government will prevent Cole and Bowers from being treated the same as other prisoners with similar sentences.
If ministers said, for example, that prisoners with manslaughter convictions could not be considered for the scheme, that would have an instant impact on many other inmates.
A government spokesperson told the BBC: “The prime minister has asked the Justice Secretary to work through further options to keep a greater number of the most serious offenders in prison, including the killers of PC Harper.”
A source said the Justice Secretary Alex Norris would set out “in due course” how the government would exclude Cole and Bowers from early release.
The prime minister has been making daily calls while on holiday to find a solution, sources told the BBC.
Around 5,000 people are expected to be released under the sentencing changes, down from 6,000 after exemptions were previously announced for those convicted of the most serious crimes including rape, child sex offences and grooming.
The third man jailed for the manslaughter of PC Harper – the vehicle driver Henry Long – was given a longer 16-year jail term. Because he received what is called an extended determinate sentence at the time, he cannot be considered for this early release scheme.
