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Who is Andrew Harper? Wiki, Biography, Age, Wife, Death Cause, Career, Trial, Investigation Report

Andrew Harper Wiki – Biography

Andrew Harper was a British police constable who was killed in Sulhamstead, Berkshire whilst in the line of duty as he was responding to a report of burglary with another fellow officer.

On the evening of 15 August 2019, Harper and an unnamed colleague were responding to reports of a burglary in Sulhamstead. When arriving at the scene, Harper was hit by a car and dragged under the vehicle. Harper was then also possibly hit by a police car shortly after.

Andrew Harper Age

Andrew Harper was 28 years old.

Cause of Death

Henry Long, 18, from Mortimer, Reading, and two 17-year-olds who cannot be named all deny murdering the Thames Valley police officer in August last year.

PC Andrew Harper was dragged for more than a mile along a road resulting in his death in “truly shocking circumstances”, a court has heard.

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, told the Old Bailey that the alleged murder of the 28-year-old constable was “a completely senseless killing”.

Harper died from multiple injuries after responding to the reported theft of a quad bike from a home near the village of Sulhamstead in Berkshire.

Altman told jurors: “Late at night on Thursday 15 August of last year in Berkshire, 28-year-old Andrew Harper, a serving police constable of Thames Valley police, was killed in truly shocking circumstances.

“With his ankles caught in a strap that was trailing behind a car being driven at speed along a country lane, he was dragged for over a mile along the road surface, swung from side to side like a pendulum in an effort to dislodge him, losing items of his police uniform along the way, with the rest of his uniform being quite literally ripped and stripped from his body.

“When at last he became disentangled, he was left with the most awful injuries, from which he died there on the road, surrounded by colleagues who tried in vain to save him.”

Trial

“This was a completely senseless killing of a young police officer in the line of duty,” Altman said.

Long has admitted manslaughter, which the younger defendants deny. All three have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal a quad bike.

Several members of Harper’s family were in court as the prosecution case opened. The trial continues.

A police officer died in “truly shocking circumstances” when he was dragged along the road surface for more than a mile by three teenage thieves after his ankles became caught in a tow rope they were using to steal a quad bike, a court heard today.

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, said: ‘With his ankles caught in a strap that was trailing behind a car being driven at speed along a country lane, he was dragged for over a mile along the road surface.’

The newly-wed officer’s widow Lissie Harper sat in the well of the court as the jury was told how the driver tried to dislodge her 28-year-old husband and he was ‘swung from side to side like a pendulum’ as his uniform was ‘ripped from his body’.

‘When, at last, he became disentangled, he was left with the most awful injuries, from which he died there on the road, surrounded by colleagues who tried in vain to save him,’ Mr Altman said.

‘His injuries were simply not survivable, and he could not be saved.’ Mr Altman added that he died naked ‘apart from his socks and boots’ and shredded parts of the trousers he was wearing.

He continued: ‘This was a completely senseless killing of a young police officer in the line of duty.’

Driver Henry Long, 18, has admitted manslaughter but denies murder. The two 17-year-old boys have both admitted taking the vehicle, but each deny murder.

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Known to his colleagues as ‘Harps’, PC Harper was due to finish his shift at 7pm with colleague PC Andrew Shaw. But on the way back to base they decided to do one final job.

Thomas King, 21, of Bramley, Hampshire, earlier admitted conspiring to steal the same quad bike belonging to Peter Wallace and will be sentenced on a later date.

Long was driving, another teenager sat beside him and the second 17-year-old was sitting on the quad bike as it was towed behind the car with the loading strap, the Old Bailey heard.

‘Not only did they wear gloves and disguise themselves with masks, but also they had disconnected all the rear light clusters to the car – brake, side and indicator lights – so that in any pursuit along dark country lanes they could disappear into the night, without trace, as had been their plan,’ Mr Altman said.

‘They had been to the same premises earlier that day, at a little before 5pm, in the daylight, in order to steal the same quad bike.

‘For additional security on that earlier occasion, they had also taped over the number plates to disguise the identity of the car from the front and behind.’

When the thieves were confronted by the unmarked police car, the teenager got off the quad bike, unhitched the handle bars from the loading strap and tried to get into the Seat.

Long then tried to drive around the police car as the teenager struggled to get in.

PC Harper ran after him and his colleague turned on the blue and white flashing lights of the car.

Mr Altman said: ‘In his rush to ensure that he and his friends did not caught the quad bike driver who had unhitched the crane strap from the quad bike, had been unable to replace the crane strap in the car boot.

‘PC Harper, who was but a few feet away, had simply not seen or realised that in that moment he had stepped, with both feet, it appears, into the loop made on the road surface by the trailing crane strap.

‘As Long floored the Seat car to make good their escapes, PC Harper was lassoed around his ankles by the loop of the strap.

‘It is the prosecution case that Long drove that car knowing full well that PC Harper was entangled in the strap, and he drove it in a manner calculated to dislodge him, and to make good their escape, as had been their plan all along.

‘The average speed at which Long drove the car along that dark and narrow county lane was a little over 42.5mph.’

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