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One of PC’s killers, Andrew Harper, is allowed to appeal his 16-year criminal sentence.
Henry Long, 19, was acquitted of the homicide but admitted murder after the 28-year-old traffic officer got caught on a tow strap tied to the back of a car the young man was driving.
The news left the policeman’s family circle surprised with new pain.
PC Harper’s mother, Debbie Adlam, said: “My circle of family members and I fully respect the right of anyone to appeal their conviction.
“We live in a just society. However, this news, which comes on the last day he had to appeal, is just a kick in the abdomen that leaves us all horrible.
“We will do it as we should, yet my mind today is surely in my heroic son who gave his life seeking to protect others and those guilty of his loss will not live without the rent in my head. “
A justice department spokesman upheld Long’s appeal, which comes days after his co-cons, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, any of the 18, filed motions to challenge their 13-year sentences and sentences.
Criminal convictions imposed at 3 have already been referred to the Court of Appeal through the Attorney General so that the judges have been too lenient.
PC Harper’s widow campaigns for Harper’s law, which would mean those who kill rescuers are imprisoned for life.
Lissie Harper and her husband had been married for four weeks when he and a colleague of Thames Valley police responded to a late-night break-in in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August last year.
More than 500,000 more people have signed an online petition supporting her crusade and she will meet with Interior Minister Priti Patel next month to discuss.