Labour's 'massively wrong' early release scheme torn apart as PC Harper's killers set to be freed: 'It's avoidable!'

Andrew Harper was killed in 2019 after being dragged behind a car while responding to a report of a quad bike theft

Labour's early release scheme has been branded "massively wrong" as two of PC Harper's killers have become eligible for freedom under the programme.

Speaking to GB News, police and crime commentator Danny Shaw said including perpetrators of heinous crimes in the early release scheme is an "avoidable situation".

The scheme is facing fresh controversy after the mother of PC Andrew Harper received a letter from the Ministry of Justice, informing her two of his killers are now eligible for early release.

Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, who were both sentenced to 13 years in 2020 for the officer's manslaughter, could walk free at the halfway point of their terms rather than serving two-thirds.

Reacting to the case, Mr Shaw told GB News the current legislation does not exclude perpetrators of the worst crimes also being released.

He explained: "This program is actually written into law, it's the new Sentencing Act, and what it says is that most prisoners serving fixed term sentences, like these two individuals, can be released one third of the way through their sentence rather than at the 40 per cent mark.

"And if they were due to be released at the two thirds point, they can be released halfway through. Now, when this legislation was put forward by the Government and passed by Parliament, there were no exclusions made for people given fixed term sentences for the most violent offences, such as manslaughter for sexual offences and so on.

"And that, I'm afraid, is where the Government has gone massively wrong on this."

The commentator argued the Government "should have seen what was coming down the track" and tried to avoid perpetrators of such high profile cases being considered for the scheme.

He told GB News: "They should have seen that there would be these cases that would come up of people who were in prison and victims would get a letter saying - as has been the case in this instance - 'I'm very sorry to have to tell you, but the two of the three people who were jailed for the horrendous crime of killing Andrew Harper are going to be let out earlier than you anticipated'.

"It is happening to hundreds and thousands of victims who are getting these emails and letters from the Ministry of Justice at the moment, telling them the perpetrators of their crimes are coming out earlier."

Mr Shaw argued this could have been an "avoidable situation" had the Government made sure to exclude such criminals.

He said: "It was an avoidable situation. The Government had to create more room in prisons because the projections are that unless they create more space, even with a prison building programme which is going ahead, they will run out of room.

"But what they should have done, in my view, was to factor in these most egregious crimes and exclude them from the scheme."

Host Miriam Cates questioned whether there should be action taken to "red flag" those on the list for early release who will cause the biggest public concern.

Mr Shaw completely agreed, stating: "Absolutely, and they should have been doing that months ago. I could tell you that this was going to be an issue.

"This is something that has been coming down the track for weeks and months, and the Government should have realised that there would be cases like this and other cases as well that should be excluded from the programme. I'm afraid this is symptomatic of poor departmental management and politics by Alex Norris's predecessor, David Lammy, in my view, who I think blundered over the the mistaken releases of prisoners.

"That was a complete fiasco. The way the jury trial reforms have been handled to tackle court backlogs has been appalling, and now we've got this."

In response to the case, Prime Minister Andy Burnham stated the main perpetrator of PC Harper's killing will "not be subject to any early release".

He suggested a wider review of the policy will take place, adding: "I’ve spoken to the new justice secretary. We will review the policy together and make further statements in due course. All I can say is I will review the whole of this policy.”