I sat down with Andrew Harper’s mother and what she told me will stay with me

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Broadcaster Cristo Foufas has spoken about his GB News talk with PC Andrew Harper's mother

As someone who’s been broadcasting for around twenty years now, starting on radio and then moving to television, it’s very rare I feel nervous any more.

Interviewing Deborah Adlam, the mother of PC Andrew Harper, the officer killed in the line of duty in the most brutal of circumstances, made me feel the weight of responsibility to get it right, and to give her the time, space, and respect to tell her story.

Because what this woman has been through is quite simply staggering.

Not only has she had to deal with the fact her son was killed in the most violent and horrific way, her and the rest of her family have had to fight for justice every day since that fateful night in 2019.

His killers received relatively light sentences, and could now be released under the government’s flawed early release scheme. But for Deborah and her family, they are still living a life sentence, and will be forever.

On August 15th 2019, twenty-eight year old PC Harper and his colleague PC Shaw were responding to a routine report of a burglary in Berkshire. It was late at night, and the call was about the theft of a quad bike.

On a dark country lane, both officers see the stolen Quad being towed behind a car. As the perpetrators stop their vehicle to unhook the bike after spotting the police car, PC Harper jumps out from the passenger seat to try and stop them escaping.

But his ankles became entangled in one of the straps trailing behind their car as the thieves drive off at speed. PC Harper was then dragged along the road for over a mile.

PC Shaw hadn’t seen what had happened. He turns his vehicle around to try to find his colleague, but PC Harper was obviously nowhere to be seen. As he drives further up the lane, PC Shaw discovers items belonging to PC Harper, including his police badge and stab vest scattered along the route.

He then discovers PC Andrew Harper in the road with catastrophic injuries. He died at the scene.

In July 2020 Henry Long, who was 19, Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole both 18, were convicted of the manslaughter of PC Harper. All three were cleared of murder after they claimed they didn’t know the officer was attached to their vehicle, as they’d tried to escape. A claim the family have never believed.

Henry Long was sentenced to 16 years in prison, and Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole got 13 years each.

The death of PC Harper utterly shocked and appalled the nation. His age, the nature of his death, the fact he’d only been married a month and left behind a young widow made this story all the more unbearable.

The public were also outraged that his killers seemingly got away with murder, and received relatively light sentences for such a hideous crime. Decent people, and most importantly the family, were left sickened and angry.

An anger now exacerbated by the prospect of two of Andrew’s killers- Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole being released early under the government’s plans to try to free up prison places.

This is why Andrew’s mother Deborah is now putting all her efforts into stopping that release happening. She already feels her son didn’t receive justice. This just adds insult to injury. She’s backed by the Police Federation, fifty police chiefs across the UK who’ve expressed their outrage, and a petition now signed by over a million people asking the government to reconsider PC Harper’s killer’s early release.

As we sit down to talk, I am struck by just how normal she is. I’m not quite sure what else I expected, but with everything she’s been through, and continues to go through, I am in awe of how down to earth and average she is.

And this is a point she really wanted to stress in our interview. She is average. They are an average family. This could happen to any average family. They’re not special. They’re not extraordinary, they’ve just ended up in these extraordinary circumstances where something utterly terrible has happened to them, and they’ve been fighting ever since.

She may not think she’s particularly extraordinary, but I do.

The dignity and composure she has maintained during this entire nightmare is beyond belief. During our conversation she not only tells me with fondness her memories of Andrew, and the traits of his personality that made him a good officer, she also recounts the most disturbing and harrowing details of his death that no Mother should ever have to describe. All whilst staying articulate and composed.

I can’t help but think most people would be screaming with rage at describing the lack of remorse from Andrew’s killers during the trial, the failings which ultimately meant they were only convicted of manslaughter, and the pain she’s now feeling at the prospect of their early release. But she does so in the most calm and dignified manner.

I really hope Andy Burnham watches our conversation and listens- not just to her feelings about the killers, who still haven’t shown any remorse being released, but also the details of what Andrew was like as a person. The man himself who lost his life, not just a picture, or a badge number, an actual person.

I’m honoured Deborah chose us to give her first in- depth interview to. I really hope it makes the difference it should.