Pressure is mounting on the Government to find a way to prevent the killers of PC Andrew Harper from being released early, with a former senior judge suggesting that excluding a specific category of manslaughter from the scheme could provide a legally workable solution.

Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, two of the three men convicted over the death of the Thames Valley police officer, are currently eligible for release next year under sentencing changes introduced as part of the Government’s efforts to tackle severe overcrowding in prisons.

The prospect of their release has caused widespread anger, particularly among PC Harper’s family, colleagues and supporters. The officer was just 28 when he died in August 2019 after becoming caught in a strap attached to a car as three men fled from the scene of a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire.

Bowers and Cole were passengers in the vehicle. They were convicted of unlawful act manslaughter and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Under the current arrangements, they could be released after serving approximately half of their sentence.

Now ministers are reportedly examining whether prisoners convicted of unlawful act manslaughter could be excluded from the early release provisions.

The idea has received cautious support from Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the former lord chief justice of England and Wales, who said the law already distinguishes between several different forms of manslaughter.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lord Thomas explained that manslaughter convictions can arise in significantly different circumstances.

One category involves defendants who were originally charged with murder but successfully relied on a specific defence. Another involves gross negligence that results in a death, while a third involves unlawful act manslaughter, where an unlawful act causes someone’s death without an intention to kill.

It is the third category that ministers are reportedly considering for exclusion from early release.

Lord Thomas said such a distinction could be made in law because the different forms of manslaughter are already recognized as separate circumstances in which a person can be convicted.

However, he acknowledged that introducing such a rule would not necessarily be straightforward.

A major concern is how prison officials would identify which prisoners fell within the proposed exemption. Prison records do not always provide the full detail necessary to understand the circumstances behind a conviction.

Lord Thomas suggested, however, that the answer could be found in sentencing remarks.

He explained that the remarks made by judges when sentencing defendants are transmitted with prisoners’ records, meaning officials should be able to establish why a particular offender was convicted of manslaughter.

That could make it possible to introduce a broad exclusion covering offenders convicted of unlawful act manslaughter without attempting to create a special rule specifically designed for PC Harper’s killers.

Such a distinction is crucial because it would be unlawful, Lord Thomas warned, simply to prevent Bowers and Cole from being released while allowing other prisoners convicted of exactly the same offence to benefit from the early release scheme.

The controversy began after the Government announced plans intended to reduce pressure on an overcrowded prison system.

Thousands of prisoners are expected to be released earlier than would previously have been possible, with the Government initially estimating that around 6,000 offenders could be affected.

That figure was later reduced to approximately 5,000 after ministers announced that rapists and certain serious child sex offenders would be excluded from the changes.

However, the exclusions did not initially cover unlawful act manslaughter.

That meant Bowers and Cole remained eligible despite the circumstances surrounding PC Harper’s death.

The officer had been responding to a report involving the theft of a quad bike when he was dragged behind the fleeing vehicle. His death shocked the country and prompted renewed debate about the risks faced by police officers while responding to crimes.

PC Harper had married his wife, Lissie, only four weeks before he was killed.

The circumstances of his death were also central to the sentencing of the three defendants. Prosecutors argued that the men knew their actions could cause serious harm, but the jury could not establish that they had intended to kill Harper.

Bowers and Cole were ultimately convicted of unlawful act manslaughter rather than murder.

Their possible early release has therefore become a particularly emotive issue because the legal classification of their crime now determines whether they can benefit from the Government’s prison reforms.

Andy Burnham has been under growing pressure to act.

The Prime Minister has previously said he would not forgive himself if he failed to do everything possible to reduce the anguish suffered by PC Harper’s family.

He has ordered Justice Secretary Alex Norris to examine possible solutions and has indicated that he is increasingly confident that Bowers and Cole will not ultimately be released early.

Ministers have stopped short of confirming exactly how they intend to achieve that.

Lilian Greenwood, the work and pensions minister, said she did not want to comment on speculation about the precise proposal being prepared by the Justice Secretary.

But she stressed that the Government understood the public concern about dangerous offenders being released early.

She also pointed to the exclusions already introduced for murderers, rapists and people convicted of serious child sexual offences.

The Government now wants to go further by identifying other categories of offenders who should remain in prison for longer.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said public safety remained the Government’s priority and confirmed that ministers were fast-tracking plans to keep more serious offenders behind bars.

The spokesperson also highlighted wider measures intended to address the prison crisis, including plans to create thousands of additional prison places, expand electronic tagging and increase investment in probation services.

The Government has said it inherited a prison system under severe pressure, with overcrowding leaving ministers facing difficult choices over who should remain behind bars and who can safely be released.

Officials are also examining other options, including faster deportation of foreign criminals, changes to the use of the women’s prison estate and a review of controversial Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences.

But for PC Harper’s supporters, the immediate issue remains much more specific.

They want assurance that the men responsible for his death will not walk free halfway through their sentences.

An online petition demanding action has attracted enormous public support, reaching more than one million signatures and demonstrating the strength of feeling surrounding the case.

For the Harper family, the prospect of seeing Bowers and Cole released early has inevitably reopened painful memories of the officer’s death.

The Government therefore faces a delicate balancing act. It must respond to public anger while ensuring that any amendment to the early release rules is legally sound and applies consistently to prisoners who fall within the same category.

That is why the proposal to exclude unlawful act manslaughter could prove significant.

Rather than creating a rule aimed at two named prisoners, ministers could introduce a general legal category that applies to every prisoner convicted of the relevant offence.

Lord Thomas’s comments suggest that such a measure could be workable, provided prison authorities can reliably establish the circumstances of each conviction.

Yet the debate also highlights the broader difficulty facing the Government as it attempts to reform sentencing while dealing with an unprecedented shortage of prison capacity.

Every exemption reduces the number of prisoners eligible for release and potentially increases pressure on an already overcrowded system.

At the same time, every decision to release an offender early carries consequences for victims, families and public confidence in the justice system.

In PC Harper’s case, those competing pressures have become especially stark.

The officer died while doing his job, responding to a crime, and his family has spent years living with the consequences. The possibility that two of the men convicted over his death could be released significantly earlier than expected has therefore become a symbol of the tensions surrounding the Government’s prison policy.

For now, no final decision has been announced.

But with ministers actively examining whether unlawful act manslaughter can be excluded from the scheme, and with a former lord chief justice indicating that such a distinction could potentially work, the Government may be moving closer to a solution.

The ultimate test will be whether ministers can produce a rule that protects the public, withstands legal scrutiny and ensures that PC Harper’s killers are treated according to the seriousness of the offence for which they were convicted — without creating an unlawful exception designed solely for one case.