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News Every Day |

PC Andrew Harper killed in ‘truly shocking circumstances’, trial hears

PC Andrew Harper killed in 'truly shocking circumstances', trial hears
Three teenagers are on trial accused of the murder of PC Andrew Harper (Picture: PA; SWNS)

A police officer died in ‘truly shocking circumstances’ after being dragged behind a car by his ankles for more than a mile, the Old Bailey heard.

PC Andrew Harper was killed ‘in the line of duty’ after responding to the reported theft of a quad bike from a home near the village of Sulhamstead in Berkshire. His feet became lassoed in the loading strap used to tow the bike as the thieves sped off, jurors were told.

Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw QC said the 28-year-old’s uniform was ‘quite literally ripped and stripped from his body’ as he was ‘swung side-to-side like a pendulum in an effort to dislodge him’.

Such were the extent of PC Harper’s ‘most appalling’ injuries that an eyewitness said he thought the suspects were towing a deer carcass behind their vehicle.

BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE Undated family handout file photo issued by Thames Valley Police of 28-year-old PC Andrew Harper. Henry Long, 19, Albert Bowers, 18, and Jessie Cole, 18, are appearing at the Old Bailey in London, where they are accused of murdering the 28-year-old police officer who was dragged behind a car after responding to a reported quad bike theft in August 2019. PA Photo. Issue date: Tuesday June 23, 2020. See PA story COURTS Berkshire. Photo credit should read: Thames Valley Police/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
PC Andrew Harper was dragged behind a car after responding to a reported quad bike theft in August 2019 (Picture: PA)

Henry Long, 19, has admitted the manslaughter of the Thames Valley Police officer, but has denied intending to kill him. He is on trial for murder, along with Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, both 18, who were his passengers.

Cole, from Aldermaston, and Bowers and Long, both from Mortimer, Reading, have admitted conspiring to steal the quad bike.

Mr Laidlaw said: ‘PC Harper was killed in truly shocking circumstances.

‘During the course of that high-speed journey, and until at last he became disentangled, his police uniform was quite literally ripped and stripped from his body.

‘Almost naked by this point, PC Harper was left as you can imagine with the most appalling of injuries, from which he died there on the road.

‘It was a senseless killing of a young police officer in the line of duty, a young man who was doing no more than his job.’

**TV OUT** Artist impression of Henry Long (L) Albert Bowers (C) and Jessie Cole (R) at the Old Bailey, London, June 22, 2020. Potential jurors in the trial of three teenagers accused murdering a police officer have been told it is a case of the
Artist’s sketch of Henry Long (L) Albert Bowers (C) and Jessie Cole (R) at the Old Bailey (Picture: Julia Quenzler/SWNS)
Police officers at the scene on the crossroads of Ufton Lane and Lambdens Hill, near to Sulhamstead., Berkshire, where a Thames Valley Police officer was killed whilst attending a reported burglary on Thursday evening. 16 August, 2019. A murder investigation has been launched after a Thames Valley Police officer died following an incident in Berkshire. Thames Valley Police has launched a murder investigation following a serious incident which occurred at around 11.30pm last night (15/8) near to the A4, Bath Road, between Reading and Newbury. The incident happened at the crossroads of Ufton Lane and Lambdens Hill, near to Sulhamstead. Tragically, PC Andrew Harper from the Roads Policing Proactive Unit based at Abingdon Police Station, who was attending a reported burglary, was killed while performing his duties. A scene watch remains in place at the scene of the incident and Ufton Lane and Lambdens Hill remain closed.
Police officers at the scene on the crossroads of Ufton Lane and Lambdens Hill, near to Sulhamstead (Picture: Tom Wren/SWNS)

Jurors were told the teenage defendants had been trying to escape police, having been caught in the act of stealing the bike from Bradfield Southend at 11.17pm.

Mr Laidlaw said the thieves were determined to take the vehicle ‘whatever the cost’, having been disturbed earlier in the day.

Not only did they have gloves and masks to avoid detection, they had tools with them which might easily have been used as weapons, it was claimed.

PC Harper and his crewmate responded to the reported theft despite it being well beyond the end of their shift.

Mr Laidlaw said: ‘Going beyond the call of duty, as it were, would cost Andrew Harper his life.’

File photo dated 16/8/2019 of an aerial view of the scene at Ufton Lane, near Sulhamstead, Berkshire, where Pc Andrew Harper was killed. Henry Long, 19, Albert Bowers, 18, and Jessie Cole, 18, are appearing at the Old Bailey in London, where they are accused of murdering the 28-year-old Thames Valley Police officer who was dragged behind a car after responding to a reported quad bike theft in August 2019. PA Photo. Issue date: Tuesday June 23, 2020. See PA story COURTS Berkshire. Photo credit should read: Steve Parsons/PA Wire
Aerial view of the scene at Ufton Lane, near Sulhamstead, Berkshire (Picture: PA)

The court heard the defendants had made off with the expensive Honda quad bike, secured to their Seat Toledo getaway car by a tow rope tied around its handlebars, but came face-to-face with the officers on Admoor Lane.

PC Harper got out of the car to apprehend Cole, who disconnected the tow rope from the quad bike and dived into the Seat, which had manoeuvred around the police car to escape, jurors heard.

The prosecutor said: ‘What of course PC Harper had not seen, but each of these defendants would have known, was that the loop of strapping now on the ground and being dragged behind the Seat was still attached to the hinge of the boot lid of the vehicle.

‘Tragically, at that very moment and still in the act of chasing Jessie Cole down, PC Harper must have quite unwittingly stepped, with both feet, into the loop made of the strapping trailed behind the Seat.

‘Henry Long sped off, PC Harper was lassoed around his ankles by the loop of the strap. It will be obvious to you all that none of the defendants could possibly have intended that that should happen.

‘But the prosecution case is that it must have been very quickly clear to Henry Long, who was after all at the wheel of the car, that the vehicle was now dragging somebody behind it.’

A pathologist’s report later found that PC Harper suffered ‘a very severe injury to the brain’ which is ‘likely to have rendered him unconscious’ after his head struck the ground.

Jurors were told an eyewitness initially thought the Seat was towing ‘the carcass of a bloodied deer’, but quickly he realised it was a person trapped by both ankles being dragged around the road like a ‘rag doll’ and striking the kerb.

His colleague, PC Andrew Shaw, made the grim discovery a short time later.

Mr Laidlaw said: ‘PC Harper was barely alive, and he died soon after where he lay, in Ufton Lane, in the company of fellow officers who had tried desperately to save him.’

The three defendants were arrested later at a nearby travellers’ site.

Jurors have been told the case is being re-tried after the original trial, which began in February, was abandoned due to the coronavirus pandemic.

PC Harper’s parents and his widow Lissie Harper were among those attending the court on Tuesday.

The trial continues and is due to last up to five weeks.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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