Andrew Harper: Detectives granted extra time to question suspects over newlywed police officer’s death

Police have been granted an extra 36 hours to question 10 suspects over the death of PC Andrew Harper.

The 28-year-old died on Thursday night, after being dragged along by a car while investigating a burglary in Berkshire.

A post-mortem examination revealed that he had died of multiple injuries, Detective Superintendent Ailsa Kent said on Saturday.

She said that it was not yet clear how the officer had come to be caught under the vehicle.

Police made a string of arrests at the Four Houses Corner Caravan Park near Burghfield Common within an hour of Mr Harper’s death.

Thames Valley Police said 10 boys and men aged between 13 and 30 arrested on suspicion of murder were still in custody at various stations in the region.

Detectives are focusing their investigation on a single vehicle, understood to be a Seat.

Mr Harper, who worked for Thames Valley Police, was the first officer to be killed on duty since 2017, when PC Keith Palmer was stabbed to death during the Westminster Bridge terror attack.

The 28-year-old’s grieving colleagues have been laying floral tributes at the scene of his death.

Philip Harper, the officer’s father, said his family had been left devastated. “We’re in a bad place,” he said, according to Sky News.

Chief Constable John Campbell had earlier said that PC Harper became a special constable in 2010.

He said the officer had married his wife only four weeks ago.

Photographs showed PC Harper and his new wife, Lissie, celebrating their wedding in Oxfordshire last month.

Additional reporting by agencies