Page 4 QQQ Daily Mail, Saturday, August 17, 2019
Continued from Page One
Brutal death: Murdered police officer Andrew
Harper, below, and above with new wife LissieSearch: Police at a travellers’ camp near the murder scenePC Harper lay fatally injured in
the road. The Times reported last
night that the officer had been hit
by a Seat van and dragged for
some distance, and was then
struck by a police vehicle respond-
ing to the incident.
Last night, two miles from the
crime scene, police were searching
a rundown travellers’ site, strewn
with litter and children’s toys.
PC Harper’s death triggered a
fresh debate over the level of serious
crime on Britain’s streets. Only yes-
terday, Richard Atkins QC, the
chairman of the Bar Council, warned
that criminals were ‘going about
their business unchallenged’.
MPs from all parties were united
in their condemnation of the mur-
der, describing it as ‘sickening’
and saying police officers had been
left ‘dangerously exposed’.
Home Secretary Priti Patel, who
declared last month that she
wanted to see criminals ‘feel ter-
ror’ on the streets, said she was
‘devastated and appalled’ by PC
Harper’s murder.
Mr Johnson, who has pledged to
hire another 20,000 police officers
to get a grip of the problem, said
he was ‘shocked and appalled’ and
admitted ‘we are seeing too much
violent crime on our streets’.
PC Harper’s devastated family
described the officer – a ‘highly
regarded’ member of Thames Val-
ley Police – as ‘the loveliest person
that you will ever meet’.
PC Harper, who became a regular
officer in 2011 after joining as a
special constable a year earlier,
had attended the reported break-
in near the village of Sulhamstead
with a colleague at 11.30pm on
Thursday. PC Harper was injured
on a lane just off the A4 Bath Roadbetween Reading and Newbury – a
crossroads next to the 12-bedroom
Braeburn Lodge care home.
At an emotional press conference,
Chief Constable John Campbell
said officers were working ‘hard
and diligently to find out what hap-
pened’. He said: ‘What we do know
is Andrew had been dragged along
by a vehicle’, adding that all ten
suspects had been arrested within
an hour of the incident.
A resident in nearby Burghfield
said a police helicopter hovered
over a travellers’ site from midnight
until about 4am yesterday. A manfrom Ufton Nervet, three miles from
the murder scene, said the area was
blighted by burglaries attributed to
the camp. ‘As soon as I heard what
had happened, I knew they were
likely to be involved,’ he said.
PC Harper married Lissie, also
28, in Oxfordshire on July 18 in the
grounds of Ardington House, a
listed stately home built in 1720.
Mrs Harper posted wedding pic-
tures online and said the couple
‘could not have asked for more’.
She added: ‘The sun was shining
and the venue was incredible.’
PC Harper’s uncle Dale
Shrimpton, 56, said: ‘We are devas-
tated. He was the loveliest person
that you will ever meet. I can’t begin
to tell you how we feel. He didn’t
have a bad bone in his body.’
Met Chief Superintendent Sally
Benatar wrote on Twitter: ‘So sad
to read this. PC Harper was the
officer in the case when my then
husband was arrested for domes-
tic violence in 2016. He was on
Thames Valley Response then.
‘He was brilliant and gave me the
courage to take steps to change
my life. I can’t thank him enough.
He was a top officer.’
PC Harper’s death comes after
PC Stuart Outten was stabbed in
the head in Leyton, east London,on August 8. Days later a 42-year-
old West Midlands Police officer
suffered serious injuries when he
was run over with his own vehicle.
Mr Johnson said: ‘The murder of
PC Andrew Harper is a mindless
and brutal crime and obviously all
our thoughts are with his family,
his friends and his colleagues.
‘When I think of the bravery that
PC Andrew Harper showed in
intercepting those criminals, I
think of the risks that the police
run every day to keep us safe.’
He added: ‘This is a very rare
occurrence, it is an absolute trag-
edy that a police officer should lose
his life in the course of his duties
and of course we will do everything
we can to keep our officers safe.’
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
said the death highlighted the
need for a boost to police numbers.
He added: ‘Let’s just think for a
moment of the horror of it, but also
for the need for more police offic-
ers to be able to respond to disor-
der in our society.’
Home affairs committee chair-
man Yvette Cooper said: ‘Police
officers like PC Harper demon-
strate extraordinary bravery every
day, and his death is a tragic
reminder of the immense sacrifices
made to keep us safe.’Stay with me...
Colleague’s cry
of desperation
as he crouched
over dying PC
trying to save
him — then
officers swoop on
traveller camp
WILD WEST BRITAIN
By Andy DolanA COLLEAGUE of PC Andrew Harper begged
the fallen officer to ‘stay with me, keep breath-
ing’ as he lay dying in a country lane.
A witness told of the heartbreaking scenes as fellow
officers fought to save the 28-year-old, after he was
mown down while responding to reports of a burglary.
The householder, who asked not to be named, came out
of his home at around 11.30pm on Thursday after hearing a
commotion in a lane off the A4 near Reading.
As police worked inside forensic tents near the property
yesterday, the witness said: ‘When I came outside I could
see one patrol car facing the A4 and the other facing in the
other direction. The officer’s crewmate was shouting, say-
ing, “Stay with me, stay with me. Keep breathing.” Those
words will stay with me.
‘He was crouched over the
officer’s body, which was lying
on the lane.
‘Ambulances and more
police cars arrived – it was
like the Blackpool illumina-
tions. I went out into the lane
to see if the police needed
any help and an officer turned
to me and said: “Leave the
area – this is a crime scene.”’
Asked if there was a police
pursuit in the run-up to PC
Harper being hit by the vehi-
cle, Thames Valley Police Chief
Constable John Campbell said
only that his fallen officer had
been involved in a ‘response
to a reported burglary’.
The senior officer said
PC Harper was a ‘highly
regarded, popular member of
the team’ who was known
across the force.
He said the traffic officer –
based at Abingdon, Oxford-
shire, around 30 miles from
where the incident happened
- had been outside his marked
patrol car when he was
‘dragged along by a vehicle’,
in what was ‘obviously a very
distressing’ incident for the
colleagues who witnessed it.
Mr Campbell said it had
been ‘an extremely dark day’
for his force – and said the
fact PC Harper had only been
married four weeks added to
the force’s ‘angst’ and to that
of PC Harper’s family.
He declined to say whether
the vehicle which hit PC
Harper, who joined the force
as a special constable in 2010
and became a police officer a
year later, was stolen.
The force’s flags were flying
at half-mast as a sign of
respect ‘in honour and mem-
ory of Andrew’, he said, add-
ing: ‘The officer was well-
known across the force so it is
felt very personally... by the
whole police family.’
The incident took place at
the crossroads of Ufton Lane
and Lambdens Hill, near the
village of Sulhamstead – closeThames Valley Police when I
say that I am deeply shocked
and saddened by the death of
PC Andrew Harper while on
duty. He was a young officer,
only recently married, and
looking forward to a long and
successful career.
‘Today, assaults on police
officers have become far too
common. I am concerned
that attacks on police officers
are no longer regarded within
some communities with the
same level of seriousness as
they were previously.
‘In the past, most criminals
were careful not to attack a
police officer. But as sen-
tences across the board have
become more lenient, so the
number of assaults increased.There would seem to be a
clear correlation.
‘The tragic death of PC
Harper is a wake-up call for
our criminal justice system.
That it happened is a sad
reflection on society today.
‘The majority of the public
are law-abiding, but we have
a small hardcore who cause a
totally disproportionate
amount of crime. I hope that
this can now be addressed.
‘It is not as if this problem
has come as a surprise. It
must now be dealt with.’
The Independent Office for
Police Conduct said it had
been made aware of the offic-
er’s death, due to possible
issues around a police pur-
suit, but is not investigating.‘Deeply shocked
and saddened’
to Bucklebury where the
Duchess of Cambridge’s par-
ents Carole and Michael Mid-
dleton live.
Andy Fiddler, from the
Thames Valley Police Federa-
tion, added: ‘This is totally
devastating news.
‘All our thoughts – and the
thoughts of the entire police
family across the UK –
are with the family, friends
and close colleagues of PC
Andrew Harper.’
Last night, Anthony Stans-
feld, Thames Valley Police
and Crime Commissioner,
said: ‘I speak for everybody at