THE widow of PC Andrew Harper is more determined than ever to push through a new law in memory of her husband after a meeting with the Home Secretary yesterday.
Lissie Harper spoke to Priti Patel and Justice Secretary Robert Buckland in Westminster to harness political support for Harper’s Law.
About 650,000 people have signed a petition calling for the legislation, which would see those who kill emergency workers jailed for life.
After a productive 45-minute meeting, Mrs Harper said that government civil servants will work with the Harper’s Law team to outline how to achieve this goal.
She said: “I wanted to sit down with the Home Secretary and describe to her how it feels to look the people responsible for my husband’s death in the eye, knowing that they show no remorse for their actions and knowing that they will be released into the world once more to return to their lives of crime.
“I told Ms Patel and Mr Buckland in no uncertain terms my widely held view that the justice system is broken – and that we need Harper’s Law to help fix it."
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PC Harper, a Thames Valley Police officer who grew up in Wallingford, died while he and a colleague were responding to a burglary in Berkshire in August last year.
Henry Long, 19, and Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, both 18, were convicted of manslaughter last month but cleared of murder.
Long was sentenced to 16 years in prison and Bowers and Cole 13, but the trio have lodged appeals.
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