PC Andrew Harper's widow 'horrified' at killers' £465,000 legal aid

The widow of PC Andrew Harper said she is “horrified” after reports emerged that his killers received £465,000 in legal aid.

The figure was paid to solicitors and barristers defending Henry Long, 19, and Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, both 18 (pictured below) who fatally dragged the constable behind a car for more than a mile when he attended reports of a quad bike theft last August.

All three were acquitted of murder during a trial at the Old Bailey last month but were sentenced for the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Now legal aid figures seen by the Mail has that legal representatives for the driver of the car, Henry Long, were paid £169,175.

His accomplices Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, both 18, had separate legal teams who were paid £131,696 and £164,898 respectively – a total to the taxpayer of just under £465,769.

A further £2,720 was spent on representation for all three at the police station after their initial arrest.

Speaking on Thursday, Lissie Harper, 29, said she was “horrified by the figures and added: “Not only did we not get justice for Andrew, we now know the cost of that injustice.

“It saddens me – but does not surprise me – that so much public money has been and continues to be spent on defending the indefensible.

“This just doesn’t seem right or fair. Andrew was my whole life. I have had to sit in a courtroom and witness the people who chose to take my husband’s life show no remorse.”

Mrs Harper and her 28-year-old husband had been married for just four weeks when he and a Thames Valley Police colleague responded to a late-night burglary in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August last year.

Two of Pc Harper's killers - Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole - last week lodged applications with the Court of Appeal seeking permission to challenge their convictions and their 13-year prison sentences.

They were jailed alongside Henry Long, who was handed a 16-year sentence.

Those sentences have also been referred to the Court of Appeal by Attorney General Suella Braverman for judges to decide whether they were too lenient.

More than 500,000 people have now signed a petition backing the introduction of Harper's Law, which calls for a mandatory life sentence for anyone convicted of killing an emergency services worker.

The milestone was reached shortly after 5.45pm on Wednesday, a week after Mrs Harper set up the petition.