PC Andrew Harper killers’ sentences unchanged after appeal

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Thames Valley Police/PA

The sentences given to the killers of PC Andrew Harper, who was dragged to his death in August 2019, remain unchanged after challenges at the court of appeal.

Harper, 28, was caught in a strap attached to the back of a car driven by Henry Long, 19, and dragged along a winding country road as Jessie Cole and Albert Bower fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Berkshire on the night of 15 August 2019.

Long admitted manslaughter and was given 16 years, while passengers Cole and Bowers were convicted of manslaughter after a trial at the Old Bailey and were handed 13-year sentences.

Announcing the court of appeal’s decision, Dame Victoria Sharp said the court had dismissed the attorney general’s appeal against Long, Cole and Bowers’ sentences for manslaughter, as well as the trio’s own appeals against their custodial terms.

© Photograph: Thames Valley Police/PA PC Andrew Harper.

The court did reduce the sentences imposed on Cole and Bowers for conspiracy to steal, from 38 months detention to an 18-month detention and training order given their ages at the time of the offence.

However, Dame Victoria said: “The effect of our decision is that all three offenders remain convicted of the manslaughter of Harper and the overall length of their custodial sentences remain unaltered.”

An application by Cole and Bowers for leave to appeal against their convictions for Harper’s manslaughter was refused as being “wholly unarguable”.