A letter arrived with a warning on the envelope...A letter that victims’ families up and down the country now receive on a shockingly frequent basis. The Ministry of Justice told Debbie Adlam in advance that the correspondence would contain “difficult” information.
It did.
Her son, brave PC Andrew Harper (Thames Valley Police), was dragged to his death along a country lane in Berkshire in August 2019. He was just 28 years old and had been married for one month. The three males responsible were convicted of manslaughter and jailed. His wife, Lissie, spent years relentlessly fighting for a law bearing his name so that no other family would endure what hers had. And, to her credit, she succeeded.
And yet Debbie Adlam, Andrew’s mother, has now been told that two of the men who killed her son could walk free before the end of this year.
Andrew Harper joined Thames Valley Police and was serving as a traffic officer when he and a colleague responded to reports of a quad bike theft and burglary near the village of Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019.
What followed was catastrophic. Andrew became entangled in a strap attached to the back of a car as the suspects fled the scene. He was dragged down a country road for more than a mile. He died at the scene. He was 28 years old. He had married Lissie just one month before.
Three males were arrested: Henry Long, then 18, who was driving the car, along with Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, both 17 at the time. All three were charged with murder.
In July 2020, after a trial at the Old Bailey, they were acquitted of murder and convicted of manslaughter. Long received a 16-year sentence. Bowers and Cole were jailed for 13 years each.
The sentences were referred to the Attorney General by Andrew’s family, who, like many other decent minded people, believed they were too lenient. However, they were not increased.
Lissie Harper refused to let Andrew’s death become a statistic. She launched a public campaign for what became known as Harper’s Law: a requirement for mandatory life sentences for anyone convicted of the manslaughter of an emergency worker on duty while committing another crime. Parliament passed it in 2022. Labour, then in opposition, backed it with enthusiasm.
It was a landmark achievement. Lissie was made an MBE for her services to victims of violent crime and their families. A memorial stone dedicated to Andrew was unveiled in Reading.
But Harper’s Law was not retroactive. The cowardly men who killed Andrew were sentenced in 2020, under the law as it stood at that time. The legislation bearing his name could not touch them.
Labour has been managing a serious prison overcrowding crisis since taking office. To ease the pressure, the government’s Sentencing Act 2026, due to come into force in September, will see some prisoners serve just 40% of their sentence in custody rather than 50%. Around 6,000 prisoners, many of them violent and dangerous criminals who are likely to re-offend, are expected to be released under the scheme. A scheme that victims all over the country will find shocking.
Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, sentenced to 13 years each, have reportedly become eligible. Having been in custody since their arrest in 2019, both men have now served just six years. Reports suggest they could be released before the end of 2026, though the exact timing depends on individual parole assessments.
Henry Long, sentenced to 16 years, is not eligible for the scheme. Prime Minister Andy Burnham confirmed this on Tuesday, saying Long would not be subject to early release. He described Bowers and Cole as having “potentially been identified” under the scheme.
The government has so far failed to rule out whether people convicted of killing, rape, or child sexual abuse offences will be exempt from the Sentencing Act. For many people, including those who work on the front line of the emergency services, the notion that murderers, rapists and paedophiles could be released early from prison is indicative of a justice system that is completely broken.
Debbie Adlam told The Telegraph what she found in that Ministry of Justice letter.
“It makes me feel sick. Andrew’s life doesn’t get to come back. It feels like a slap in the face and an insult.”
She described the prospect of her son’s killers walking free as “an insult beyond anything able to be put into words,” and added that “people are getting a free pass for crime” in Britain today.
Lissie Harper had not made a public statement in four years. On Tuesday, she ended that silence.
“When I fought for Harper’s Law, I was supported not only by the Conservative government of the day but by the Labour Party too. They pledged to support our cause and agreed that those who kill emergency workers should face tougher sentences because some crimes are so grave they demand meaningful punishment. That cross-party support helped make Harper’s Law a reality. Today, it feels forgotten.”
She added:
“For victims’ families, this is not about politics. It is about whether a sentence means what a judge says it means. It is about whether justice is something we truly believe in, or something that can be negotiated away when it becomes inconvenient.”
Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber did not mince his words.
“The killers of Andrew Harper should remain in prison and should not be released early.”
Barber described the prospect of early release for Bowers and Cole as “deeply upsetting for Andrew’s loved ones” and said it “will raise serious questions about public confidence in our justice system.” He went further, calling the Sentencing Act 2026 a badly designed piece of legislation with consequences that extend far beyond this one case.
“Blanket early release measures for large sections of the prison population mean that many criminals will simply never face proper punishment. This risks undermining faith in the criminal justice system. The Government must act.”
Barber has written directly to Prime Minister Andy Burnham and to the Lord Chancellor urging the government to pursue emergency legislation to block the early release of the men convicted of Andrew Harper’s killing, and to address the wider failings of the Act.
The Ministry of Justice also issued a statement: “This was a horrific crime, and our deepest sympathies are with PC Andrew Harper’s family and friends. In 2024, the country was facing a prison crisis and a total breakdown of law and order, with judges ordered to stop jailing dangerous criminals. This government is committed to public safety: we are building prison places at the fastest rate since the Victorian era, and taking the difficult decisions needed to lock up the most dangerous offenders.”
The response has done little to reassure the Harper family, or the thousands of people who followed Lissie’s campaign and believed Harper’s Law had delivered justice for Andrew.
The article continues below for paid subscribers.
Why Harper’s Law could not prevent this outcome, and the precise gap in how it was drafted that left the door open
What the Sentencing Act 2026 actually excludes, and why manslaughter falls through when murder does not
What the PCC’s letters to the Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor are asking for, and what emergency legislation would actually require
The legal obstacles that stand between a political promise and a law that sticks
What the Prime Minister’s “review” could realistically deliver, and by when
What this moment means for Lissie Harper’s legacy and for every future case under Harper’s Law
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