Pc Andrew Harper case: alleged jury tampering to be referred to the attorney general

The widow of Pc Andrew Harper said she was "shocked and appalled" after a jury cleared three teenagers of his "barbaric" murder on Friday, but convicted them of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

The trio, who had sat laughing and smirking throughout the trial, were convicted amid allegations of jury intimidation and following the bizarre dismissal of one female juror who was seen repeatedly smiling at the killers during the judge’s summing up.

A former policing minister said he was referring the trial to the Attorney General over fears that the jury may have been tampered with while Lord Blunkett, the former Home Secretary, suggested a retrial should have been ordered.

Sir Paul Stephenson, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said on Friday night he had "deep concern".

In an emotional statement outside the Old Bailey, Lissie Harper, who had only been married for four weeks when her “incredible, selfless and heroic” husband was dragged for more than a mile behind a car to his death last August, said: “Standing here, before all of you, I honestly thought I would be addressing you following a very different verdict... I am, for the second time in the space of one year, utterly shocked and appalled.

"The decisions made in these courts, by strangers, will never change the outcome that had already come to us. For many, many agonising months, we had hoped that justice would come in some way for Andrew.”

Pc Harper’s killers – Henry Long, 19, and Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, both 18 – hugged each other when the verdict was announced.

During two trials – the first was abandoned in March as a result of the coronavirus lockdown – the gang from a travellers' community in Berkshire had been seen laughing in the dock.

Even when Pc Harper's body was compared to a "deer carcass" after being dragged for more than a mile down country lanes in Berkshire, Bowers, Long and Cole continued smirking.

The police officer had tried to intervene when he caught the gang stealing a quad bike. He became entangled in the tow rope attached to Long’s car and dragged to his death. The killers were traced to the Four Houses Corner travellers' site in Berkshire.

Mrs Harper said that she and her family "had put our faith in the justice system... to ensure these men were made to repent for their barbaric crimes" and added "but in reality, they make no difference to the heart-wrenching pain I will continue to feel for the rest of my life".

Mrs Harper described his death at the age of 28 as "brutal and senseless"  and said she was "immensely disappointed with the verdict".

She paid tribute to a "beautiful, loving human being" and said: "I now have my own life sentence to bear and believe me when I say it will be a much more painful, soul-destroying and treacherous journey than anyone facing a meagre number of years in prison will experience."

Alleged plot to intimidate jurors

Following the verdicts, it can now be disclosed that the judge, Mr Justice Edis, brought the first trial to a temporary halt over an alleged potential plot to intimidate jurors.

An unidentified person in the public gallery overlooking the courtroom was seen pointing at jurors and the judge ordered extra security measures to protect the jury.

Without divulging details, he said police had received information "that an attempt is being considered by associates of the defendants to intimidate the jury".

Then last Friday  July 17, towards the end of the second trial, an overly friendly juror was seen by a prison officer to mouth "Bye boys" to the defendants in the dock and continually smiling at them. On being alerted to the incident, Mr Justice Edis said: "She must have been compelled by some strong motive to have behaved as she did in this court under the observation of so many. It was both overt and covert at the time, which is remarkable behaviour."

The female juror was discharged just a day before the remaining 11 men and women began deliberating on their verdicts.

The disclosures caused alarm on Friday. Mike Penning, former policing and justice minister, said he would be writing to the Attorney General Suella Braverman to ask her to investigate.

Mr Penning said: “We have to stand up for victims. That is our job as politicians if it [the verdict] was unduly lenient. The Attorney General should look at this case.

"The one thing a jury should be  is completely detached in any shape or form from the people that are being tried. Clearly, the judge had concerns otherwise he would not have discharged the juror.”

Lord Blunkett said: "It throws considerable doubt on whether the whole of the jury should have been stood down and a retrial required. The verdict also raises issues that I think the law commission should lack in respect of the definition of murder because although it might not be premeditated, it was murder."

Sir Paul Stephenson, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said: "It is of deep concern. I can understand why the judge did not want to dismiss the [entire] jury but this is of great concern."

Richard Benyon, the former Conservative MP for Newbury, whose land is close to the scene killing, said: "To see this brutal killing result in such a verdict will cause incredulity in this part of Berkshire."

The Attorney General and the Ministry of Justice both declined to comment.

All three of the defendants had denied murder although Long, the ringleader who was driving the saloon car dragging the body, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

They will be sentenced next Friday but although still facing life for manslaughter are likely to serve far less prison time than if convicted of murder.

The officer who led the investigation said the killers had showed no remorse and that their friends and relatives sought to frustrate his investigation.

Detective Superintendent Stuart Blaik said: "The fact he was a police officer and one of our own of course, it's paid a huge toll on all of us.”

He said it was the defendants' "criminality" in stealing a quad bike that put them on course to meet Pc Harper and his colleague Pc Andrew Shaw, with "catastrophic consequences".

Mr Blaik said: "Despite having worked a long shift already they responded to that, and tragically Andrew has paid the ultimate price for that.”

The defendants had shown no remorse or helped police piece together what happened, he said, adding: "They had every opportunity to do that and it was a conscious decision by them not to assist police from the very outset, all the way through, and even during the trial."