‘Harper’s Law’ – changes in the law for the protection of emergency workers

Case facts:

On the 15th of August 2019, Police Constable Andrew Harper was killed in the line of duty whilst responding to the report of a burglary. The incident involved a stolen quad bike that was being towed by another vehicle, which Harper got caught in when attempting to approach the suspects. Harper was then ‘dragged by the vehicle’ for approximately one mile, and was sadly pronounced deceased at the scene by paramedics soon after.

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The investigation:

On the 16th of August 2019, an 18 and 17-year-old male were arrested, soon followed by a 20-year-old male who was arrested on suspicion of murder. Thames Valley Police’s Major Crimes Unit stated that the post-mortem performed gave Harper’s cause of death as ‘multiple injuries’ which were consistent with their theory of him being caught between vehicles and dragged for a distance. Additionally, it showed that Harper had suffered a ‘very severe’ brain injury.

On the 18th of September 2019, 18-year-old Henry Long and 17-year-olds Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole were charged with murder. Furthermore, a 21-year-old male was charged with conspiracy to steal a quad bike and subsequently pleaded guilty to the charge. The CPS discontinued the case against the 20-year-old who had previously been arrested.

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The trial:

The murder trial for the death of Harper began on the 10th of March 2020. Bowers and Cole were both minors at the time and therefore were originally protected by s.39 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, which prevents the name, address, or school of a minor from being included in a publication. They both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal a quad bike but denied the charge of manslaughter. Long admitted manslaughter and conspiracy to steal a quad bike. All three defendants denied murder.

After delays to the trial were caused by the Covid-19 pandemic along with possible jury intimidation, on the 24th of July 2020, all three defendants were cleared of murder. However, they were found guilty of manslaughter. On the 31st of July 2020, Long was sentenced to 16 years and both Bowers and Cole to 13 years in prison.

On the 19th of August 2020, Bowers and Cole made applications for permission to appeal against their convictions for manslaughter and against their sentences. The Attorney-General applied for permission to refer the killers’ sentences to the Court of Appeal on the basis that she considered them to be ‘unduly lenient.’ Long also applied for permission to appeal against his sentence on the basis that it was too severe. The Court of Appeal dismissed their appeals, and their sentences in respect of the manslaughter convictions were not altered.

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‘Harper’s Law’ – the campaign:

In August 2020, Harper’s wife, Lissie, launched a campaign that would mean mandatory life sentences for those who kill an emergency worker in the course of their duty. This would extend to workers including police officers, firefighters, nurses, doctors, or paramedics.

At the time of Harper’s death, he had only been married to Lissie for four weeks. In her statement following the trial, she stated she was “disappointed” and that the sentences given did “not reflect the severity and barbarity of the crimes they committed.” She also said she felt “let down” by the criminal justice system, and the “inadequate laws” that were in place.

Lissie made it clear that she did not want to implement this as she believed emergency workers were “more important” than anyone else, but the new law was to be directed at them due to the nature of their work and the dangers that they face.

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Responses to the campaign:

A petition which was made by Lissie for the campaign received 770, 608 signatures following widespread support nationwide.

However, there was some pushback from legal experts on the campaign, as some had concerns over the consequences of the implementation. Law blogger The Secret Barrister suggested that ‘Harper’s Law’ “would remove the vital distinction between murder and manslaughter.” He explained that his concern over the proposed change to the law is that it is based on an “unusual case, for a number of reasons” and unusual cases are “rarely a sensible starting point for changing the law.” He stated it would be “manifestly unfair” to treat someone who accidentally pushes a police officer and causes a fatal injury as “equally culpable” as someone who sets out to kill or seriously injure an officer.

Alistair Parker, the solicitor for Brett Wilson, had concerns over “huge disparities” in sentencing in cases where there was “no ill will” towards the emergency worker. For example, if an accidental act kills an emergency worker where the defendant had no intention to harm the emergency worker in particular, this could lead to a life sentence, whereas if they had hurt a non-emergency worker, the sentence would be significantly shorter.

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Result of the campaign:

On the 24th of November 2021, the government announced that they will be passing ‘Harper’s Law’ and it will be added to the statute book “as soon as possible.” The change will “pass into law mandatory life sentences for those who unlawfully kill an emergency worker in the course of their duty” whilst carrying out another crime unless there are truly exceptional circumstances.

Dominic Raab commented personally that he wished to “pay tribute to Lissie Harper’s remarkable campaign.” Home Secretary, Priti Patel, stated that “those who seek to harm our emergency service workers represent the very worst of humanity, and it is right that future killers be stripped of the freedom to walk our streets with a life sentence.”

Following this, Lissie said that she knows “Andrew would be proud to see Harper’s Law reach this important milestone” and that she is “delighted” that the law will soon become a reality.