PC Harper murder trial: Officer died in 'shocking circumstances'

PC Andrew Harper died after his ankles became lassoed in straps attached to a car

A police officer was killed in "truly shocking circumstances" when he was dragged for more than a mile by a car on a country road, a court heard.

PC Andrew Harper was "swung from side to side like a pendulum" after his ankles got caught in a strap trailing behind a vehicle driven by 19-year-old Henry Long in Berkshire in August 2019.

The Old Bailey heard his uniform was "ripped and stripped from his body".

Mr Long and passengers Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, both 18, deny murder.

The prosecution case was opened to a new jury after a trial, which started in March, could not be finished due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said PC Harper, 28, from Wallingford, Oxfordshire, was left with the "most appalling of injuries... and he died there on the road" after he became entangled in the tow rope.

"It was a senseless killing of a young police officer in the line of duty; a young man who was doing no more than his job," he told jurors.

Henry Long and his passengers, Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, (l-r) deny murder

On the night of 15 August, Peter Wallis called police to report the theft of a quad bike from the drive outside his home in Bradfield Southend.

The court heard PC Harper was due to finish his shift for Thames Valley Police's roads policing unit, but he and a colleague responded to the call.

"It was going beyond the call of duty, as it were, and it cost Andrew Harper his life," Mr Laidlaw added.

'Ankles lassoed'

The court heard the officers came face-to-face with the Seat Toledo in Admoor Lane, which was driven by Mr Long. Mr Bowers was in the front passenger seat and Mr Cole was riding the quad bike, the prosecution said, which was being towed from behind with a strap.

As the police car edged toward the Seat, Mr Long began to drive around the vehicle as Mr Cole, who had lifted the loop of strapping from the bike's handlebars, dived into the moving car, Mr Laidlaw said.

Mr Laidlaw said as Mr Cole had attempted to get into the Seat to escape, PC Harper got out of his vehicle to intercept him.

"The loop of strapping was now on the ground and being dragged behind the Seat," Mr Laidlaw said.

"PC Harper must have quite unwittingly stepped, with both feet, into the loop made on the road."

Mr Laidlaw said Mr Long then "sped off" and PC Harper was "lassoed" around his ankles.

PC Harper's colleague, PC Andrew Shaw, described it "as if he had lost his footing while water skiing" with his feet "being whipped forward and his body being thrown back".

Mr Laidlaw said while none of the defendants could have "possibly intended that that should happen" it "must have been very quickly clear to Henry Long... that the vehicle was now dragging somebody".

The court heard the Seat travelled for more than a mile before PC Harper became detached from the strap.

A post-mortem examination found PC Harper suffered a "very severe" brain injury.

Mr Long, from Mortimer, Reading, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but, along with Mr Bowers and Mr Cole, denies murder.

Mr Cole, of Paices Hill near Reading, Mr Bowers, of Moat Close, Bramley, and Mr Long have all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal a quad bike.

The trial, expected to last five weeks, continues.