\n<\/p>\n
The chief constable of Thames Valley police has said he will consider joining legal action against the government if it fails to block the early release of two of PC Andrew Harper\u2019s killers.<\/p>\n
The Police Federation is contemplating going to court in its attempts to keep Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers in prison.<\/p>\n
In August 2019, Harper, 28, died when he was dragged down a country road in Berkshire by a car as Cole, Bowers and their accomplice Henry Long fled the scene of a quad bike theft.<\/p>\n
All three were convicted of manslaughter in 2020. Cole and Bowers were sentenced to 13 years in prison and could be released early as part of the government\u2019s drive to free up prison places.<\/p>\n
Long, who was driving the car, was given a 16-year jail sentence and does not qualify for early release.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Jessie Cole (left) and Albert Bowers are each serving a 13-year sentence for manslaughter.<\/span> Photograph: Thames Valley police\/PA<\/p>\n On Wednesday morning, Jason Hogg, who was on duty the night Harper died, told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme that he would \u201ccertainly\u201d consider joining the Police Federation in court action if the government refused to reverse its position, pending legal advice.<\/p>\n \u201cI was contacted by the Police Federation yesterday who informed me they are seeking legal advice, exploring opportunities for a judicial review against the government,\u201d he told the Guardian on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I\u2019m watching with interest and I will be speaking to the Police Federation again.<\/p>\n \u201cBut my hope is that we will never get there and that there is no need for the Police Federation to go down the line of a judicial review because the government will listen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Prison capacity in England and Wales is at critical levels. From October, the government plans to release about 5,000 prisoners who have served a third of their sentence.<\/p>\n Harper\u2019s widow, Lissie, successfully campaigned for a change in the law after his death.<\/p>\n Legislation introduced four years ago \u2013 the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 \u2013 means those convicted of the manslaughter of emergency workers on duty now face mandatory life sentences. However, the law cannot be applied retrospectively.<\/p>\n Hogg said he wrote to the prime minister, Andy Burnham, 12 days ago to express concerns that Cole and Bowers might be included in the scheme, but had not received a reply.<\/p>\n He added that he planned to write again to Burnham, the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and the justice secretary, Alex Norris, to convey \u201cthe impact of the decision on the morale of my officers, but also on the 2,000 people who work in policing across the country\u201d.<\/p>\n Hogg would not be drawn on whether all prisoners convicted of manslaughter should be exempt from the scheme.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotionFree newsletter | Every day<\/p>\n Sign up to Headlines UK<\/span><\/p>\n Get the day\u2019s headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n <\/span>Thames Valley police chief constable Jason Hogg was on duty the night Harper died.<\/span> Photograph: Jaimi Joy\/Reuters<\/p>\n The government has already said those serving sentences for rape, serious child sexual offences and grooming will not be released early, after a campaign by victims.<\/p>\n \u201cIt isn\u2019t my role to set government policy or set the law,\u201d Hogg said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think if you ask most people in the streets, they would probably say people who take the life of another person in our country should remain behind bars as long as possible, and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s particularly controversial.\u201d<\/p>\n However, he added that the fact Harper was an emergency services worker is a \u201csignificantly aggravating factor\u201d.<\/p>\n Hogg said the criminal justice system also needed \u201cgreater investment around rehabilitation\u201d. He said the National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council estimated it would cost about \u00a3480m to manage the freed offenders in the community.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there needs to be a balance between the risk caused [by] prisons being full, but also the risk of releasing people early who still pose a risk to the public,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the challenges around the sentencing act [is that it] releases people on the basis of the crime committed, not on the basis of how reformed they are, have they been rehabilitated, and not on the basis of the risk they pose back in the community.<\/p>\n \u201cSo if you have somebody who still poses the risk \u2026 has felt no remorse, and they are back on the streets early, of course that risk has to be managed by the probation service and policing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The chief constable of Thames Valley police has said he will consider joining legal action against the government if it fails to block the early release of two of PC Andrew Harper\u2019s killers. The Police Federation is contemplating going to court in its attempts to keep Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers in prison. In August<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[919,689,1802,25134,4516,442,2374,2282,2023,324,10458,958],"class_list":{"0":"post-51639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-action","9":"tag-chief","10":"tag-considers","11":"tag-constable","12":"tag-criminal","13":"tag-early","14":"tag-joining","15":"tag-justice","16":"tag-killers","17":"tag-legal","18":"tag-pcs","19":"tag-released"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}