PC Andrew Harper murder trial: Defendants escaped 'at all costs'

PC Harper died after his ankles became entangled in a tow strap attached to a car

Three teenagers who dragged a police officer to his death in a car were attempting to escape "at all costs", a court has heard.

Henry Long, Albert Bowers, and Jessie Cole fled after trying to steal a quad bike in Berkshire.

But PC Andrew Harper got caught in a strap attached to a Seat Toledo in a "tragedy entirely of these young men's making", the prosecution said.

All three have denied murder at the Old Bailey trial.

The court previously heard PC Harper, from Wallingford, Oxfordshire, died in "truly shocking circumstances" when his ankles inadvertently got caught by the strap used to tow the bike from a house in Stanford Dingley on 15 August last year.

He was dragged for more than a mile and died at the scene.

Left to right: Henry Long, Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole deny murder

In his closing speech, Jonathan Laidlaw QC said: "All three of these close friends knew perfectly well that if the police sought to intervene they would drive as fast as it was possible to get away.

"Escape literally at all costs. Driving that would give rise to great risks and driving at a pace which on any view killed Andrew Harper."

He said while they did not set out to ensnare PC Harper, there were "clear efforts" to throw him free once he became tangled.

He also clamed there were "deliberate and cynical attempts" to frustrate the ensuing police investigation.

They had "absolutely no understanding of the damage" they had caused when later charged, Mr Laidlaw told jurors.

PC Harper was dragged for more than a mile by the car

He added: "They simply do not recognise the extent of the grief and loss Andrew Harper's family have to confront, for which there would be, for them, no respite.

"Their sense of misfortune bears no comparison to just how unfortunate Andrew Harper was... they are not the unlucky victims of this case at all.

"They had two clear choices moments after Andrew Harper was caught up in the strapping, and it is a binary choice.

'Intention to kill'

"They were dragging a heavy object - what else could it have been but the police officer they had seen at the back of the Seat having almost caught Jessie Cole?

"To stop would have been the clearest indication that they intended him no harm, but evidently to drive on at such speed and then to seek to throw the officer free is an equally clear indication there was an intention in all three to kill him."

The strap PC Harper got caught in was attached to a Seat Toledo

Mr Long, 19, from Mortimer, Reading, has admitted manslaughter.

Along with Albert Bowers, of Moat Close, Bramley, and Jessie Cole, of Paices Hill near Reading, both 18, he admits conspiring to steal the bike.

The trial continues.