Burnham Explores Every Option to Block Early Release of PC Harper's Killers

Under the government's plans via the Sentencing Act, prisoners serving sentences of four years or more for some serious violent or sexual offences will be eligible for release at the halfway point of their term, rather than at two-thirds as previously. This would apply to Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, two of Harper's killers, jailed for 13 years in 2020 for manslaughter. Henry Long, the main perpetrator jailed for 16 years, will not be subject to early release.

After a public outcry, Burnham excluded rapists, child sexual abusers and groomers from the early release scheme, which he also put back a month to October, but criminals convicted of manslaughter were not excluded. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 introduced mandatory life sentences for offenders convicted of the manslaughter of emergency workers on duty but, as is normal, it does not apply retrospectively.