Image source, PA Media

In his statement, posted online, the prime minister has written more about his aim to stop the early release of PC Harper's killers.

"It will be based on a range of options including the three strands of further work I asked him to initiate last week: increasing the rate of removal of foreign national offenders from the prison estate to their country of origin; finding an early resolution to the long-running injustice of IPP sentences, which could allow for the release of lower-risk prisoners; and making greater use of the entire prison estate including using the female estate for male offenders.

"I am increasingly confident that a more focused approach along these lines will allow us to reduce the number of people released early and, in the case of the most serious offenders like those convicted of the killing of PC Harper, prevent their early release altogether.

"In advance of the Justice Secretary’s proposals being presented to Parliament, we will seek to engage other political parties in discussions with the aim of gaining the widest possible public and political consensus on the approach being taken.

"Murderers have always been exempt and our actions have already ensured that rapists, serious child sex offenders and those convicted of grooming offences will never be released early.

"And today I have shown a determination to go further.

"However, I recognise that, even with all these changes, there will be concerns from many victims about who will still be released early for other offences. I am doing all I can, but it is simply not possible to prevent all offenders from being released early without the prison system collapsing."

Here is more from Andy Burnham's statement, posted on his Facebook page:

"I understand the depth of public concern about the potential early release of those involved with the killing of PC Andrew Harper - and I share it.

"I fully appreciate the anguish of Andrew's family and, more broadly, of all those victims and their families who may see those who caused them such harm not serve their full sentence. "It is incumbent on me as Prime Minister to do everything within my power to minimise that possibility. And I am determined to do so.

"I have spent recent days considering in depth all of the issues involved and the range of advice I have received. I have been pushing for further progress. I have not accepted that it is impossible to do more.

"As a result, I have asked the Justice Secretary to fast-track the development of a plan for presentation to Parliament early next month to create more headroom within the prison system."

Prime Minister Andy Burnham says he is "increasingly confident" that work to increase space in the prison system "will allow us to reduce the number of people released early".

He adds: "And, in the case of the most serious offenders like those convicted of the killing of PC [Andrew] Harper, prevent their early release altogether."

After PC Andrew Harper's death, his widow Lissie led the campaign to introduce "Harper's Law".

Passed by Parliament, the law gives mandatory life sentences to the killers of emergency services workers. It also doubles the maximum penalty from 12 months to two years for those who assault police or other emergency workers.

Although PC Harper was killed in 2019, the new rules were introduced in 2022 and did not apply retrospectively to the sentencing of his killers.

That's one of the concerns raised by those campaigning against their early release.

Image source, Getty Images

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says Andy Burnham "needs to act" to stop the early release of PC Andrew Harper's killers.

Writing on X, she says: "Two weeks ago I told Burnham to change course on early release. A week ago he exempted rapists and paedophiles.

"Today he's 'looking at' stopping PC Harper's killers being released.

Badenoch adds: "The victims have suffered enough. The delays & excuses are making it worse. The PM needs to act."

Image source, PA Media

As our earlier post mentions, Andy Burnham has asked Justice Secretary Alex Norris to come up with a plan to exclude PC Andrew Harper's killers from an early release scheme designed to ease prison overcrowding.

PC Harper, 28, died in 2019 when he was dragged behind the getaway car of three teenagers who had fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Berkshire.

Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers were sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter in 2020.

Under changes to the Sentencing Act made this year, Cole and Bowers will become eligible for release from custody next January after serving half of their sentences.

They are in a category of prisoners - those who have committed certain serious violent or sexual crimes - who until now would have had to serve at least two-thirds of their sentence in jail.

One of PC Andrew Harper's colleagues she is "optimistic" the government will prevent his killers from being released.

Aileen O’Connor - chairwoman of the Thames Valley Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers - organised a petition against the killers’ early release.

It now has more than 900,000 signatures, which O’Connor says shows how the British public "have got behind this campaign".

Fighting off tears, she tells BBC Radio 4’s Today programme of the vow she made to "do something" on behalf of officers across her force and across the UK.

O'Connor says she has a "glimmer of hope and encouragement" following the latest developments, and believes Prime Minister Andy Burnham will "make the right choices".

Image source, PA Media

The mother of PC Andrew Harper, Debbie Adlam, tells BBC Breakfast of the anguish caused by "reading conflicting reports" about whether or not her son’s killers can be excluded from the early release scheme.

"I’m just getting more and more angry, I'm just in this turmoil," she says.

Adlam says that she received a phone call from No 10 last night, and was told that the prime minister now "has more hope now of finding a resolution to this to try and keep them in prison".

"For me, it’s hope but I can't afford to be too hopeful, because we’ve been there before," she says.

Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers "weren’t given extreme sentences", she says, adding that she’s "not asking for a special case for my son".

"I'm only asking for them to do what they were given. I'm not asking for anything more than they were sentenced."

Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner says the government is looking at freeing up more prison spaces to prevent violent offenders being released early.

Angela Rayner says ministers could explore quicker deportation of foreign prisoners, sentences given to female offenders and indefinite sentences handed out in previous decades.

She says the prime minister "doesn’t accept that we allow the most dangerous offenders out early on release" and said the "trauma" faced by the family of PC Andrew Harper and others was "unacceptable".

Rayner says the government also wants "stronger restrictions" on people who leave prison through the early release scheme and that Labour would build more prisons to prevent overcrowding in the future.

She says Andy Burnham had asked the justice secretary Alex Norris to come to Parliament in September with a plan to keep the most serious offenders in prison.