UK excludes manslaughter offenders from early release scheme to keep PC Harper killers jailed

Exclusion of manslaughter offenders

Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced revisions to the government early release scheme on Sunday during an interview with BBC Breakfast, confirming that prisoners convicted of unlawful killing will remain behind bars. The modification directly excludes offenders convicted of manslaughter, preventing the early release of Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers. Both men were convicted of manslaughter after 28-year-old police constable Andrew Harper was killed in Berkshire in 2019, dragged along a road by a fleeing vehicle during a quad bike theft. Burnham stated that the government acted after hearing calls from PC Harper's family and former colleagues, who campaigned for months to block the release.

Nobody would want a position to arise where those guilty of killing a police officer are let out early from prison.

Victim family campaigns and political pressure

The policy revision follows representations from relatives of homicide victims, who sent a formal letter to Justice Secretary Alex Norris on Friday. The signatories argued that victims of serious crime were being forced to bear the burden of prison overcrowding. Among the signatories were Emma Webber, whose son Barnaby Webber was killed in the 2023 Nottingham attacks, and Diana Parkes, whose daughter Joanna Simpson was killed by Robert Brown in 2010. Both cases involved manslaughter convictions on the basis of diminished responsibility, with Nottingham attacker Valdo Calocane receiving an indefinite hospital order in January 2024. The families noted that releasing voluntary manslaughter convicts conflicted with government commitments to halve violence against women and girls.

Overcrowding pressures in England and Wales

The early release programme was designed to alleviate severe capacity constraints across the prison estate in England and Wales, which is operating at more than 97% capacity. Under the original structure, the custodial portion of sentences was shortened while remaining time would be served under supervision in the community. Exclusions were already established for individuals convicted of murder, rape, serious child sexual abuse, and grooming offences. Defending the wider scheme on BBC Radio 4, Women and Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson stated that emergency measures were necessary to prevent space from running out for newly arrested suspects.

We have faced some really difficult and unpalatable choices because of the huge crisis that was left behind in the prisons estate.

Capacity adjustments and IPP reform

Retaining manslaughter convicts in custody will result in hundreds more individuals remaining incarcerated, requiring ministers to find alternative cell space before the first releases take place in October. To offset this, Burnham announced plans to end Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences, which were available between 2005 and 2012 before being discontinued. According to Ministry of Justice data, 2,271 people were serving IPP sentences as of June, with 856 individuals who have never been released by the Parole Board. Burnham stated that ministers will introduce legislation by the end of the current Parliament to terminate IPP sentences, alongside establishing a cross-party oversight group. The government also intends to introduce powers early next year to deport hundreds of foreign offenders immediately after sentencing and adapt existing spaces into additional cells.