PC Andrew Harper died on August 15, 2019, at age 28. He was killed while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire. He was dragged along the road by fleeing criminals after being caught in a strap attached to a car. He was due to start his honeymoon with wife Lissie hours after the incident. Three teenagers were convicted of his manslaughter in July 2020. Henry Long, 19, was sentenced to 16 years for manslaughter. Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, both 18, were sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter.
His death led to harsher sentences for killings of emergency workers on duty, known as Harper's Law. Mrs Harper successfully campaigned for the law, which extended mandatory life sentences to anyone who commits the manslaughter of an emergency worker on duty. She was made an MBE in 2022 for her services to victims of violent crime and their families.
In 2019, our lives changed forever. The world lost a hero but I lost the person I was meant to grow old with.
The Police Memorial Trust unveiled a stone in PC Harper's name in Reading on Thursday. At the ceremony, Mrs Harper said: "In 2019, our lives changed forever. The world lost a hero but I lost the person I was meant to grow old with." Chief Constable Jason Hogg of Thames Valley Police said: "Andrew never took life for granted. He was the epitome of what a police officer should be - willing to serve and protect at all costs."
He was proud to serve as a police officer but, to me, he was so much more. He was my partner, my strength, and my first love. I will always carry him with me - in my heart, in my memories, and in everything he taught me about strength, compassion, and courage.
Andrew never took life for granted. He was the epitome of what a police officer should be - willing to serve and protect at all costs.
I remember standing with officers in the aftermath of something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Andrew was 28 years old. He was doing his job. He was responding to a call for help, serving the public, protecting his community. There was nothing extraordinary about that decision because for police officers across this country that sense of duty is part of everyday service. And yet the risk is always there.
For Andrew's colleagues, this stone is a place of remembrance. For his family, it is a lasting tribute to who he was and what he stood for. And for the community he served, it is a reminder that the safety we so often take for granted is secured by people willing to step forward on our behalf.