PC Andrew Harper killing: Widow is 'learning to cope'

Lissie Harper successfully campaigned for 'Harper's Law'

The widow of police officer Andrew Harper says she is in the process of finding a "new version" of her life four years on from his death.

Lissie Harper's husband, a police officer from Wallingford, was dragged to his death by a getaway car in 2019.

She told the Stigma Shakers podcast that she was learning to cope, "but it won't go, it won't disappear, it won't become fine".

Three teenagers were jailed for manslaughter after PC Harper's death.

It compelled Ms Harper to successfully campaign for Harper's Law to give mandatory life sentences to the killers of emergency service workers.

Ms Harper said since then, she had taken time way from the public eye "to figure out who I am now, because I'm a very different person".

She said: "Queen Victoria, with her grief she was all in black, she was veiled in her grief literally.

"I think that is the expectation sometimes… like we're expected to wear black for the rest of our lives and just sit and mourn, and although inside there is a sense of that, it's not fair to expect a person to be like that."

The Harpers had been together for 12 years, having known each other since school

Ms Harper told host Ally Hensley she had also started dating someone again.

"It's not going to be the same, it's not going to be better or worse, it's just going to be different," she explained.

The new person also worked in the emergency services, "because people who are in that sort of job are compassionate and thoughtful and caring, which is maybe something I'm drawn to," she said.

'Total shock'

Ms Harper also recounted the moment she first learned of her husband's death.

"In the movies when there's a policeman at the door… that's supposed to be a sign isn't it? Like something bad has happened," she said.

"I just didn't think that. I welcomed this gentleman into my house in the middle of the night and it wasn't my first thought.

"Which is why I was so shocked when he sat me down and said three words to me that have never felt so alien: 'Andrew has died'."

She added: "That was the start of this very surreal time for me where I was in total shock."

The Harpers were newlyweds but had been together for 12 years, having known each other since school.

PC Harper was dragged for more than a mile along country lanes in Berkshire after he and a colleague responded to reports of a quad bike theft.

The 28-year-old Thames Valley Police officer became lassoed to the back of a car after he stepped into the loop of a tow rope as he tried to apprehend one of the defendants.

Henry Long, 19, admitted manslaughter and was sentenced to 16 years. Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, both 18, were convicted of manslaughter after a trial at the Old Bailey and sentenced to 13 years in custody.

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