On 15 August 2019, police constable Andrew Harper was killed near Sulhamstead, Berkshire, England in the line of duty.
[9] At 23:17 on 15 August 2019, Thames Valley Police received a 999 call from a property near Stanford Dingley, Berkshire, reporting a burglary-in-progress and theft of a quad bike.
[3][11][12] At 23:28,[a] Shaw and Harper were passed on the road by a SEAT Toledo towing the stolen quad bike on Admoor Lane near Bradfield Southend.
[15] With the quad bike no longer attached, the suspects drove south-east on Lambden's Hill with Harper "lassoed" to the rear of the SEAT.
[11][15] A police helicopter using thermal imaging found the SEAT at Four Houses Corner, a travellers' caravan site,[20] near Burghfield Common.
[22] On 17 August, Thames Valley Police's Major Crimes Unit stated that a post mortem performed the previous day gave Harper's cause of death as "multiple injuries", which was congruent with their theory that he had been "caught between a vehicle and the road, and then dragged for a distance".
[26] Bowers and Cole—both minors at the time of the offence and originally protected by Section 39 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933—pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal a quad bike[15] but denied manslaughter.
[14] On 13 March, the court heard that all parties agreed that the police constable first to attend to Harper on the A4 did not strike him with his vehicle, contrary to early reports of the incident.
Harper's widow had made a victim impact statement and later released an open letter, in which she implored Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel to allow a retrial seeking a murder verdict.
[38] On 21 August, the Attorney-General applied for permission to refer the killers' sentences to the Court of Appeal on the basis that she considered them to be "unduly lenient".
Members of the public lined the streets to watch the funeral procession,[43] and over 800 people attended the service including Home Secretary Priti Patel and Oxford West and Abingdon MP Layla Moran—both of whom later paid respect to Harper in the House of Commons.
[45] In June 2020, Thames Valley Police have named the newest horse of their mounted section "Harper" as a tribute.
Separately, Harper's mother launched a campaign to require killers of police officers to receive minimum jail terms of 20 years.
[47] On 24 November 2021, the Ministry of Justice announced that they would introduce "Harper's Law", a bill extending mandatory life sentences to "anyone who commits the manslaughter of an emergency worker on duty – including police, prison officers, firefighters and paramedics – while carrying out another crime unless there are truly exceptional circumstances.