The killers of PC Andrew Harper will remain in prison after the Prime Minister announced changes to a controversial early release scheme for prisoners in England and Wales.

PC Harper, 28, died in August 2019 while responding to a quad bike theft in Berkshire. He became entangled in a strap attached to a car and was dragged along a country road as three suspects fled.

The driver, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence and would not have been eligible for early release under the scheme, introduced to ease prison overcrowding. But his accomplices, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, would have qualified.

Harper’s mother, Debbie Adlam, campaigned over the summer for the government to reverse its plans. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has now confirmed the additional prison capacity will instead be created by deporting foreign prisoners and releasing some inmates serving indefinite sentences.

The change means Cole and Bowers will not be released early. The decision follows sustained pressure from Harper’s family, who argued that the killers should serve their full sentences.

The early release scheme had been brought in to free up jail spaces amid what the government described as a capacity crisis. The revised approach is expected to have implications for other prisoners, though details have not been finalised.

The case has prompted wider debate about prison capacity and sentencing policy across the UK, including in Northern Ireland where the justice system faces similar pressures.