Murdered officer hit by
a police dog vehicleA police officer attending a burglary was dragged beneath a van for several hundred yards before being hit by a police dog vehicle responding to the incident, according to reportsPC Andrew Harper, 28, was attending the scene in Sulhamstead, near Reading, before being dragged down the road when he was hit by a Seat van at 11.30pm on Thursday.
The newlywed officer, who married fiancée Lissie four weeks ago, was thrown from the vehicle's undercarriage before being struck by a police vehicle thought to have been part of a dog unit taking part in the pursuit.
A witness said he heard an officer yelling: 'Stay with me, stay with me, keep breathing,' as PC Harper lay fatally injured in the road.
Newlywed PC Andrew Harper had married his fiancée Lissie on July 18, and they were due to go on honeymoon together next week
Ten people – including a boy of 13 – have been arrested after what Prime Minister Boris Johnson described as a 'mindless and brutal' crime.
Yesterday officers were seen attending a nearby
Travellers' site near Burghfield, where inquiries were carried out in relation to the incident.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which investigates when someone is hit by a police vehicle, has not yet opened an inquiry by an agreement with the force, it was reported.
Four weeks ago, PC Harper was posing for pictures on his wedding day, and cut the cake with new wife Lissie next to a sign reading 'Happily Ever Harper'.
But yesterday it emerged the 28-year-old officer was the latest victim of Wild West Britain when he was mown down and 'dragged along by a vehicle' while responding to a burglary in Berkshire.
PC Harper and his bride were due to go on honeymoon next week, but late on Thursday night the couple's dreams were shattered in the cruellest fashion when the officer lost his life in the line of duty.
Last night, just over two miles from the crime scene, police were searching a travellers' site, strewn with litter and children's toys.PC Harper's death triggered a fresh debate over the level of serious crime on Britain's streets. Only yesterday, Richard Atkins QC, the chairman of the Bar Council, warned that criminals were 'going about their business unchallenged'.
MPs from all parties were united in their condemnation of the murder, describing it as 'sickening' and saying police officers had been left 'dangerously exposed'.
Flowers are laid today near to where Thames Valley Police office Andrew Harper was killed
PC Harper had been planning to take part in a charity run at the Dirty Weekend 2020 Burghley, a 20-mile obstacle course, for Children with Cancer UK
Home Secretary Priti Patel, who declared last month that she wanted to see criminals 'feel terror' on the streets, said she was 'devastated and appalled' by PC Harper's murder.
Mr Johnson, who has pledged to hire another 20,000 police officers to get a grip of the problem, said he was 'shocked and appalled' and admitted 'we are seeing too much violent crime on our streets'.
PC Harper's devastated family described the officer – a 'highly regarded' member of Thames Valley Police – as 'the loveliest person that you will ever meet'.
PC Harper's family including his grandmother Maureen and uncle Dale have paid tribute
Ten people were arrested on suspicion of murder after the incident in Berkshire yesterday
PC Harper, who became a regular officer in 2011 after joining as a special constable a year earlier, had attended the reported break-in near the village of Sulhamstead with a colleague at 11.30pm on Thursday night.
While it is unclear exactly what happened or what was being targeted in the burglary, PC Harper was injured on a lane just off the A4 Bath Road between Reading and Newbury – a crossroads next to the 12-bedroom Braeburn Lodge care home.
At an emotional press conference, Chief Constable John Campbell said officers were working 'hard and diligently to find out what happened'. He said: 'What we do know is Andrew had been dragged along by a vehicle', adding that all ten suspects had been arrested within an hour of the incident.
The adventurous couple, shown in picture taking a selfie as on a river on an exotic holiday, were due to go on honeymoon imminently
A resident in nearby Burghfield said a police helicopter hovered over a travellers' site from midnight until about 4am yesterday.
PC Harper married Lissie, also 28, in Oxfordshire on July 18 in the grounds of Ardington House, a listed stately home built in 1720.
Mrs Harper posted wedding pictures online and said the couple 'could not have asked for more'. She added: 'The sun was shining and the venue was incredible.'
PC Harper's uncle Dale Shrimpton, 56, said: 'We are devastated. He was the loveliest person that you will ever meet. I can't begin to tell you how we feel. We all loved him very much. He didn't have a bad bone in his body.'
The couple's family spoke with great pride about the bravery he had shown as his life was taken in the line of duty
The couple married at the luxurious location of Ardington House in Oxfordshire last month
Met Chief Superintendent Sally Benatar wrote on Twitter: 'So sad to read this. PC Harper was the officer in the case when my then husband was arrested for domestic violence in 2016. He was on Thames Valley Response then.
'He was brilliant and gave me the courage to take steps to change my life. I can't thank him enough. He was a top officer.'
PC Harper's death comes after PC Stuart Outten was stabbed in the head in Leyton, east London, on August 8. Days later a 42-year-old West Midlands Police officer suffered serious injuries when he was run over with his own vehicle.
Mr Johnson said: 'The murder of PC Andrew Harper is a mindless and brutal crime and obviously all our thoughts are with his family, his friends and his colleagues.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he was 'deeply shocked and appalled' by the death of PC Harper, adding that his thought's were with his family, friends and colleagues
'It is the most powerful reminder that police officers up and down the country put themselves at risk every single day to keep us safe,' he said
'When I think of the bravery that PC Andrew Harper showed in intercepting those criminals, I think of the risks that the police run every day to keep us safe.'
He added: 'This is a very rare occurrence, it is an absolute tragedy that a police officer should lose his life in the course of his duties and of course we will do everything we can to keep our officers safe.'
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the death highlighted the need for a boost to police numbers. He added: 'Let's just think for a moment of the horror of it, but also for the need for more police officers to be able to respond to disorder in our society.'
Home affairs committee chairman Yvette Cooper said: 'Police officers like PC Harper demonstrate extraordinary bravery every day, and his death is a tragic reminder of the immense sacrifices made to keep us safe.'
‘Stay with me…keep breathing’: Colleague reveals he desperately tried to save murdered PC, 28, who was ‘dragged to his death’ by car at scene of burglary
A witness told of the heartbreaking scenes as fellow officers fought to save PC Andrew Harper, 28, after he was mown down by a 'getaway car' on Thursday night, just four weeks after he married his fiancée Lissie.
The householder, who asked not to be named, came out of his home at around 11.30pm on Thursday after hearing a commotion in a lane off the A4 near Reading.
As police worked inside forensic tents near the property yesterday, the witness said: ‘When I came outside I could see one patrol car facing the A4 and the other facing in the other direction. The officer’s crewmate was shouting, saying “Stay with me, stay with me. Keep breathing.” Those words will stay with me.
‘He was crouched over the officer’s body, which was lying on the lane.
‘Ambulances and more police cars arrived – it was like the Blackpool illuminations. I went out into the lane to see if the police needed any help and an officer turned to me and said: “Leave the area – this is a crime scene.”’
Asked if there was a police pursuit in the run-up to PC Harper being hit by the vehicle, Thames Valley Police Chief Constable John Campbell said only that his fallen officer had been involved in a ‘response to a reported burglary’.
The senior officer said PC Harper was a ‘highly regarded, popular member of the team’ who was known across the force.
He said the traffic officer – based at Abingdon, Oxfordshire, around 30 miles from where the incident happened – had been outside his marked patrol car when he was ‘dragged along by a vehicle’, in what was ‘obviously a very distressing’ incident for the colleagues who witnessed it.
Mr Campbell said it had been ‘an extremely dark day’ for his force – and said the fact PC Harper had only been married four weeks added to the force’s ‘angst’ and to that of PC Harper’s family.
He declined to say whether the vehicle which hit PC Harper, who joined the force as a special constable in 2010 and became a police officer a year later, was stolen.
The force’s flags were flying at half-mast as a sign of respect ‘in honour and memory of Andrew’, he said, adding: ‘The officer was well-known across the force so it is felt very personally... by the whole police family.’
Link to Article - Photos:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... hicle.htmlTravellers: - mostly of Irish decent, live in caravans and travel around a lot
