What does a 13-year prison sentence really mean — and what happens when changes to early-release rules collide with one of Britain’s most emotionally charged policing cases?
Former Scottish detectives Tom Wood and Simon McLean examine the case of PC Andrew Harper, the 28-year-old Thames Valley Police officer who was killed in 2019 after becoming caught in a strap attached to a vehicle fleeing the theft of a quad bike.
Three young men were originally charged with murder. All were ultimately acquitted of murder but convicted of, or admitted, manslaughter.
Tom looks at the case from a detective’s perspective and asks a fundamental evidential question:
How do you prove intent?
The discussion then turns to the campaign that followed Andrew Harper’s death and the introduction of Harper’s Law, intended to ensure life sentences for those convicted in qualifying cases of unlawfully killing emergency workers in the course of their duties.
But Harper’s Law could not retrospectively alter the sentences already imposed in this case.
That has become central to the current controversy over early release from prison.
Tom and Simon discuss the prospect of two of those convicted becoming eligible for release earlier than many members of the public expected, the reaction from senior police leaders, and the wider argument over how governments deal with an overcrowded prison system.
The conversation quickly develops into something much bigger than a single case.
Real cases. Real detectives. Real talk.
","author_name":"Crime Time Inc"}