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PC Andrew Harper's Wife Urges Prime Minister To Consider Retrial

PC Andrew Harper's Wife Urges Prime Minister To Consider Retrial

Lissie Harper had been married to her husband for just a month when he was killed

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

The widow of PC Andrew Harper has written to Boris Johnson to ask for a retrial after the three teens responsible for her husband's death were cleared of murder and instead convicted of manslaughter.

Lissie Harper and PC Harper had only been married for a month when he was tragically killed by Henry Long, 19, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, both 18, who were trying to steal a quad bike.

PC Harper, 28, was killed after while attending reports of a burglary at about 11.30pm on 15 August 2019, close to the A4 Bath Road near Sulhamstead, in Berkshire.

Thames Valley Police

The teens were all acquitted of murder on Friday at the Old Bailey. Bowers and Cole were both convicted of manslaughter. Long had pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter at an earlier date.

But now, Lissie has shared an open letter to the Prime Minister, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Lord Blunkett, in which she urges them to consider a retrial.

In a lengthy post, that you can read in full here, heart-broken Lissie wrote: "In total honesty I could write and write until my fingers hurt, I could pour my heart further into this letter, I could scream and shout and stand with fierce determination in the eyes of opposition over this crucial matter.

"After all what else can I do for my husband now? My heart bleeds for the life that was so selfishly taken from us, but yet in arduous restraint I will not go on any further."

PA

"I implore you to hear my words, see the facts that are laid out before us, and I ask with no expectations other than hope that you might help me to make these changes be considered, to ensure that Andrew is given the retrial that he unquestionably deserves and to see that the justice system in our country is the solid ethical foundation that it rightly should be.

"Not the joke that so many of us now view it to be."

The trial had to be rearranged due to the coronavirus pandemic and at the retrial Mr Justice Edis requested additional security measures due to concerns about the potential of juror intimidation.

The three men will be sentenced on Friday.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: UK News, crime