Hampshire Police Federation in full support of Harper’s Law campaign

Hampshire Police Federation is 100% behind a new campaign aimed at putting people who kill police officers and emergency service workers behind bars for life.

The ‘Harper’s Law’ campaign has been launched by Lissie Harper after her Thames Valley police officer husband Andrew was killed on duty in August last year.

The perpetrators Henry Long, Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, were convicted of manslaughter but cleared of murder.

Long was jailed for 16 years and Bowers and Cole for 13 years.

The Attorney General is currently reviewing their sentences to see if they were too lenient.

Hampshire Police Federation Chair Zoe Wakefield said Lissie’s campaign had her and the team’s full support.

“I think the online petition [calling for the change in legislation] now has over half a million signatures which just shows how much support there is not just from emergency service workers and the police but also from the public,” Zoe said.

“Violence against officers and emergency service workers is increasing. Andrew sadly lost his life in the most awful of circumstances, and there are many, many officers who have been assaulted and were lucky not to lose their lives.

“I think we need to do everything we can to protect those who protect the public.”

To do that perpetrators must receive lifelong jail terms, Zoe added.

“Even though nothing will bring Andrew back those responsible for ultimately causing the worst outcome for people like Andrew have to spend the rest of their lives in jail, so they’re not able to cause harm to any other emergency worker.

“You only have to watch programmes like Police Code Zero to see how close some officers are to losing their lives.

“We lose officers every year. Officers die. And for so many officers, it’s just pure luck that they don’t lose their lives.

“We need to do everything we can to give them extra protection.”