the times | Friday August 28 2020 2GM 15
News
patrick kiddTMS
[email protected] | @timesdiaryHome truth
from CBI boss
Dame Carolyn Fairbairn,
director-general of the CBI, was
on the front page of the Daily Mail
yesterday demanding that workers
return to their offices “starting
now” before Britain became a land
of ghost towns. She followed it up
with a TV interview that looked to
be coming more from her home in
Winchester than the CBI’s City
headquarters. Indeed, I’m told
that she hasn’t been seen in the
office since the lockdown and
workers there are not expected
back until schools return next
month. More “now-ish” then?post traumatic fame
All young TV reporters hope to
make an early impact on screen.
For Mark Austin, the Sky News
veteran, that moment wasn’t quite
as he had hoped. He told the Media
Masters podcast that he was sent to
cover the discovery of a runaway
child and was going down the
street talking on camera when he
walked into a lamppost. “It made
the most colossal ringing,” he said.
Austin, below, might have got away
with it if a colleague hadn’t sold the
clip to Noel Edmonds’s bloopers
show. “It was watched by 12
million,” Austin said. “After that I
got recognised everywhere.”Austin also spoke about the humility
of Nelson Mandela. He went to
Robben Island with the former
president of South Africa and saw
the tiny cell in which he was kept.
Austin reflected that it must
have been uncomfortable to
sleep on such a small bed. “It’s
my fault really for being so
tall,” Mandela replied.dad stumps son
When Michael
Vaughan became
England cricket
captain in 2003, his
father gave advice onhandling egos: “Remember they
are people.” This caring approach
was at odds with what he had said
minutes earlier. Vaughan told Paul
McKenna’s podcast that when he
informed his dad that he had been
appointed, he replied: “F***ing
hell, they must be struggling.”Poor Charles Michel, president of
the European Council, had to cancel
his wedding in Provence last
weekend because Belgium has ruled
that visitors to the French region
must be quarantined for two weeks
on their return. Maybe the future
Madame Michel didn’t fancy having
him about the house?drop the dreaded donkey
War correspondents continue to
trade tales on Twitter of battles
with their newsdesks, as reported
yesterday. Caroline Wyatt recalled
ringing in from Afghanistan
offering an interview with a man
who had been tortured by the
Taliban and was riding home on a
donkey. “OK, we’ll take the piece,”
her editor said, “but light on
donkey, heavy on torture.” Others
spoke of being told things like
“Justin Webb is being shelled, why
not you?” Dan Kelly, a BBC editor,
fought back for those at home,
saying that the excuses given by
reporters for not covering stories
were also amusing. He
remembered one correspondent,
who clearly had other plans for a
Friday night, pleading: “Yes, I
agree it’s an important story but is
now the right time to tell it?”Rachel Mackay, a manager for
Historic Royal Palaces, gave a
weary sigh when she received a
familiar brown envelope addressed
to “The Current Occupier, Kew
Palace”, which has not been lived
in for two centuries. “Oh good,”
she said, “it’s the time of year
where I have to explain to
the TV Licensing
Authority why George
III hasn’t paid his TV
licence since 1820.”The killers of PC Andrew Harper have
received £465,000 in legal aid, accord-
ing to new data.
Figures seen by the Daily Mail re-
vealed the sum that was paid to solici-
tors and barristers representing the
three teenagers who were convicted of
manslaughter after dragging PC Harp-
er behind a car for more than a mile.
The Thames Valley officer, who had
married four weeks earlier, was killed
after responding to reports of a quad
bike theft in rural Berkshire in August
last year.
Lawyers for Henry Long, 19, 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.
Lissie Harper, 29, the officer’s widow,
said: “It saddens me — but does not sur-
prise 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
Long could be released in ten years and
eight months. Bowers and Cole could
also be eligible for release in eight years
and six months.
Sentencing them at the Old Bailey
last month, Mr Justice Edis said: “YouPC Harper’s killers received £465,000 in legal aid
Ali Mitib people who chose to take my husband’s
life show no remorse.”
After all three teenagers were spared
life sentences, Ms Harper launched a
campaign for a change in the law to see
that all criminals die behind bars if they
are convicted of killing a police officer.
The petition now has over 500,000 sig-
natures.
“I am sure the public, whose support
for me has been unstinting, will be as
horrified as I am to know how much
money is going towards paying this
trio’s escalating legal costs.
“It’s news such as this that makes me
more determined than ever to keep on
fighting for Harper’s Law, which would
mean these despicable criminals are
jailed for life.”
Long, the ringleader, who told police
he “didn’t give a f*** about any of this”
when he was initially charged with
murder, was jailed for 16 years. Bowers
and Cole, who have learning difficul-
ties, were each jailed for 13 years. All
three were acquitted of murder.
The group will have to serve at least
two thirds of their sentences before
they are eligible for release. Therefore,
killed a talented and brave young police
officer who was going above and be-
yond his duty in order to provide a
public service, and you did so because
you had deliberately decided to expose
any police officer who got in your way
to a risk of death.
“You decided that your freedom to
commit crime was more important
than his life.”
The judge warned that if they re-
mained free it would only be a “matter
of time” before someone else died.
The sentences are subject to two sep-
arate appeals. Suella Braverman, the at-
torney general, has referred them to the
Court of Appeal for being “unduly leni-ent”. Both Bowers and Cole have
lodged challenges to their manslaugh-
ter convictions with the Court of Ap-
peal. Both cases are likely to lead to fur-
ther legal aid payouts.
Long’s team of solicitors was paid
£119,405 while his barrister received
£48,622. Bowers’ solicitors were paid
£78,804 and his barristers received
£52,282. In Cole’s case, £78,804 was paid
to solicitors and £85,132 was paid to his
barrister. Some £2,720 went on legal
representation for all three at the police
station following their initial arrest.
The legal aid bill reflects the fact that
the first trial was abandoned in March
due to the lockdown.Henry Long, Albert Bowers and Jessie
Cole were jailed for manslaughter
over the death of the police officer