andrew served in thames valley police with honour.passion. ultimately, he laid down his life for us all. it pains me more than i can ever explain that this has not been appreciated by the very people who should have seen his heroic and selfless duty as so many other members of the public, total strangers clearly do. myself and andrew‘s family will never come to terms with our new lives. we will never understand how such a beautiful, loving, decent human being could be dealt this fate. 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 anyone facing a meagre number of years in prison will experience. myself and our families will spend the rest of our days missing him, loving him and being utterly proud of the incredible man that he was. we will never forget the kindness we as a family have received from all who have supported us over the past year. friends, family, total strangers and the almighty unity of the thin blue line, from the depths of our

we think we will hear more from thames valley police and we may hear from pc andrew lost his life doingcess. they could have ignored that call but thatis could have ignored that call but that is not what professional and dedicated police officers do. harper had those qualities in abundance and tragically that cost him his life. it was the criminality of henry long, albert vows and cole who... they evaded arrest at all costs. rather than stopping and accepting that the court red—handed, they sped off in that the court red—handed, they sped offina that the court red—handed, they sped off in a car which deliberately modified into a dangerous condition with pc harper tangled in the tow rope that was intended to steal the quad bike. it wasjust rope that was intended to steal the quad bike. it was just over a rope that was intended to steal the quad bike. it wasjust over a mile before he became detached from the tow rope. i don't need to detail the horrific injury suffered at the hands of these three men. they have shown no remorse for what happened that evening at any stage. they could have

who were investigating this. and also from thames valley police who were investigating thism d distinguish between the murder and manslaughter charges? yes, all three defendants had been facing a murder charge. in orderfor them to be convicted on that charge, the jury had to be convinced by the prosecution's case that the three defendants knew that the police officer had got caught in that tow rope and they knew that they were dragging him along. when all three defendants, they all gave evidence during this trial, and they told the court that they had no idea that pc harper had got caught in that tow rope and the prosecution's case was that they hadn't intended for the officer to get caught in the tow rope, but they knew that they were dragging the police officer along. thejury dragging the police officer along. the jury dismissed those murder charges but they did find them guilty of manslaughter, but as i say, henry long, who was driving the car on that night, he had already admitted to manslaughter and when he gave evidence during this trial, he was asked by his barrister wh

it has been a tough 12 months for the thames valley police and our collea g u es the thames valley policeted their time and efforts to try to get justice for the family and their wider police family, as well, and we mustn't forget andrew harper's family and especially lissie who has been through an awful lot in the last 12 months. what has support for them and those in the thames valley police looked like, what support has been needed? so support has come in a variety of forms and i must pay tribute to the force, who have been absolutely fantastic in supporting andrew's colleagues, and all police officers that have been affected by this in ourforce. and the federation have also played their role in that, as well, and that continues today and will obviously continues today and will obviously continue well into the future. continues today and will obviously continue well into the futurem must be... must hold some comfort that the support and sympathy for pc harper's family, particularly lissie, who is being very public, particularly about her love for her husband... how reassuring has that

the crown prosecution service worked closely with thames valley police to bring this case to court, wef cases and relied on dozens of witnesses to be able to bring the strongest case we could to trial. juries accepted that when the teenager set out that night to steal the quad bike, they were prepared to go to any cost to get away with their crime. tragically, pc andrew harper was killed as he bravely tried to stop them. based on what he has heard in court, thejury has banned all three men were responsible for the death of pc andrew harper and have convicted him of manslaughter. this has been an extremely challenging case and my thoughts and those of the cps remain with pc harper's family and friends who have shown great strength, courage and integrity throughout the trial. thank you. we recognise that there was a murder count before the court today and the jury count before the court today and the jury have made their decision, they have considered all the evidence available and we are really pleased to say the three people responsible for pc andrew harper's death have been convicted.

the thames valley police officer died last august after being dragged behind a carfor more than a milevicted of manslaughter. our correspondent helena wilkinson is at the old bailey. yes, we've just had those sentences passed by thejudge. henry long, the driver of the car, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison. his friends, who were also with him on the car that night, albert bowers and jessie cole, are both sentenced to 13 years. pc harper's family have had to sit through the most harrowing of details through this trial. thejudge said harrowing of details through this trial. the judge said to the defendants, you killed a talented and brave police officer, he said to them, they decided that their freedom to commit crime was more important than his life and he rejected that any of the defendants had shown any remorse. before sentencing andrew harper's widow, lissie, gave a victim impact statement of the court with the defendants listening from the dock and she said, my husband was brutally killed four weeks after our wedding day. should i speak again of how we were robbed of our futu