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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Peter Walker and Caroline Davies

Burnham ‘increasingly confident’ PC Harper’s killers will not get early release

Composite of Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers
Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were sentenced in 2020 to 13 years for manslaughter, are due to be freed in January under the existing plans. Photograph: Thames Valley police/PA

Andy Burnham has said he is increasingly confident he can adapt the early release scheme for prisoners to exclude the killers of PC Andrew Harper and other serious offenders, saying he understood and shared the public’s concern about their potential release.

Writing on Facebook, the prime minister said on Tuesday he had asked the justice secretary, Alex Norris, to rapidly push through a series of measures to increase the number of prison places, requiring fewer people to be released early to free up room.

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