PC Andrew Harper: A death that sparked an outpouring of love

Image copyright FamilyHandout Image caption PC Andrew Harper was killed while responding to a report of a quad bike being stolen by masked men

It was a killing that sparked tributes across the world and an “outpouring of love” for a police officer who was killed in the line of duty.

PC Andrew Harper was “doing no more than his job” when he was dragged for more than a mile to his death after his feet got caught in a strap trailing behind a suspect’s getaway car.

As news broke of the 28-year-old’s death, a wave of grief and love spread across the country for the officer, who had recently married his childhood sweetheart Lissie.

The newlyweds had been looking forward to their honeymoon in the Maldives.

Image copyright PA Media Image caption PC Harper married his childhood sweetheart Lissie four weeks before his death

On the night of 15 August 2019, PC Harper responded with a colleague to a 999 call about a quad bike theft, despite it being four hours past the end of their shifts.

The men were on their way home – they didn’t have to respond – but they made a decision to go beyond the call of duty. It was a decision that would cost PC Harper his life.

Almost a year on from his death, three teenagers – Henry Long, Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole – have been convicted of the manslaughter of PC Harper. They were cleared of his murder.

At the time of the killing last year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the officer’s death was “the most powerful reminder that police officers up and down the country put themselves at risk every single day to keep us safe”.

Forces up and down the land held a minute’s silence for “Harps”, who was described as a “dearly loved and respected colleague”, who was a “hero”.

Football teams held silences before kick-off and the officer’s hometown of Wallingford in Oxfordshire decorated shop windows with ribbons representing the “thin blue line”.

Image caption Wallingford turned blue for Andrew Harper

“Nobody’s been given a script… it just seemed to take hold,” said PC Harper’s friend Andy Ledbury, who put up a blue ribbon outside his plant nursery.

“It’s been really emotional for people that knew him, but we didn’t realise how much other people felt the same grief,” he told the BBC.

In the weeks following, PC Harper’s widow and family members led a “Ride of Respect” involving thousands of motorcyclists, while 20,000 epaulettes and badges from around the world were used to create a 55ft (17m) long mural.

Mrs Harper said the “the messages, support and kind words” had been “overwhelming”.

She placed his police helmet on his coffin during a funeral service at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, after colleagues and crowds lined the streets of the city to pay their respects.

Image copyright PA Media Image caption Hundreds of motorbikes packed out RAF Benson to pay tribute to PC Harper

But while his colleagues mourned the death of one of their own, detectives were required to push emotions aside for the murder investigation.

Det Supt Stuart Blaik, the senior investigating officer in the case, said his team didn’t have an “awful lot to go on in the very early stages”.

The detective said the “challenge was always going to be identifying who was in the car at that particular time”, due to it being used by several people.

Image copyright PA Media Image caption Officers lined the streets as the cortege travelled through Oxford

During the investigation, police officers and staff took 1,250 statements, visited more than 1,000 homes and pursued 1,122 lines of inquiry.

Initially 10 males, aged between 13 and 30, were arrested at the Four Houses Corner caravan site, before Long, Bowers and Cole went on trial accused of murder at the Old Bailey in March.

The trio admitted conspiring to steal a quad bike along with Thomas King, 21, from Basingstoke.

For the first time, jurors heard the details of PC Harper’s brutal killing – many of which were too graphic for publication.

However, the trial collapsed due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Image copyright Facebook Image caption Henry Long, Albert Bowers, and Jessie Cole (l-r), all from travelling families, left school well before they were 16 and had a long history of stealing

As the retrial began in June, new jurors were placed 2m (6ft 6in) apart, while members of the press and the public followed proceedings on monitors in neighbouring courtrooms.

This new jury heard how Long, 19, Bowers and Cole, both 18, had hitched a Honda quad bike to the back of a Seat Toledo at a home near Stanford Dingley, Berkshire, and made off into the darkness as the vehicle’s owner dialled 999.

The teenagers soon found themselves face to face with PC Harper and PC Andrew Shaw, who were in an unmarked police BMW.

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Media captionPeter Wallis dialled 999 to say he could see “four masked men” brandishing weapons

As Long drove around the police car to escape, PC Harper got out of his vehicle and tried to apprehend Cole, who had unhitched the bike and was running behind the Seat driven by Long.

“Unwittingly” stepping with both feet into the trailing tow-strap, the officer became “lassoed” to the vehicle as it sped off and dragged him just over a mile before he became detached from the vehicle and died in the road.

Colleagues only realised it was one of their own who had been killed due to his police uniform, prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw QC said.

Image caption The strap PC Harper got caught in was attached to a Seat Toledo

The prosecution’s case was that it would have been “obvious” to the defendants they were dragging PC Harper behind, but they decided not to stop.

To drive at such speeds and “seek to throw the officer free” was a “clear indication there was an intention in all three to kill him”, Mr Laidlaw told the jury.

After being arrested during raids in the early hours of 16 August, the three teenagers denied being involved, before changing their stories when faced with compelling evidence.

Long, from Mortimer, Reading, pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murder and said he did not know PC Harper was attached to the vehicle.

Bowers, of Moat Close, Bramley, and Cole, of Paices Hill near Reading, confirmed they were passengers in the Seat, but denied ever seeing the police officer.

Det Supt Blaik said the defendants made a “conscious decision” “not to assist the police” and said their family and friends had tried to “frustrate” the investigation.

Image copyright TVP Image caption PC Harper was dragged for more than a mile by the car

Security around the first trial into PC Harper’s death was stepped up after police uncovered a plot by “associates of the defendants to intimidate the jury”.

Proceedings were halted to discuss measures to safeguard jurors after someone in the public gallery was seen pointing at them.

Judge Mr Justice Edis ruled it necessary to put measures in place to ensure the jury was not intimidated, even though the risk was “low”.

He approved measures to provide a private room for jurors to use throughout the trial and ordered that anyone using the public gallery must provide photographic identification.

After four weeks of evidence and 12 hours, 22 minutes of deliberations, jurors acquitted all three defendants of murder.

The jury found Bowers and Cole guilty of manslaughter. Long had previously admitted the same offence.

Det Supt Blaik said PC Harper “paid the ultimate price” for going beyond the call of duty, but added “that is what police officers do up and down the country, day in and day out”.

“We go towards trouble, we don’t run away from it,” he said.

Image copyright Thames Valley Police Image caption PC Harper died after his ankles became entangled in a tow-strap attached to a car

Mrs Harper said her husband was the “kindest, loveliest, most selfless person you will ever meet”.

“I want to be angry that your job took you away from us but I know you loved it and always wanted to keep everyone safe, especially me,” she said.

“Our superman, our bodyguard, our light in the dark. My God we will miss you.”