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Andy Burnham is reportedly considering blocking Pc Andrew Harper\u2019s killers from early prison release after previously suggesting he was unable to keep them behind bars.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister is prepared to \u201cexplore every option\u201d to keep Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers in jail, a Government source told the Telegraph on Friday.<\/p>\n
The Government has so far resisted pressure to exempt the two killers from its early release scheme, which starts in October in a bid to tackle prison overcrowding.<\/p>\n
Mr Burnham said earlier this week he had \u201cpushed to the very limits of what is possible to do without risking the prison system reaching capacity and collapsing\u201d by excluding sentences for \u201crape, serious child sex offences and other grooming offences\u201d from eligibility.<\/p>\n
Some 5,000 people are expected to be released early under sentencing changes, down from 6,000 after the exemptions announced as part of an urgent review of the scheme.<\/p>\n
But under current plans, Cole and Bowers remain eligible to be freed halfway through their 13-year sentences after they were convicted of manslaughter in 2020 following Pc Harper\u2019s death in 2019.<\/p>\n
Downing Street has been contacted for comment about Mr Burnham reportedly weighing up options to block their release.<\/p>\n
Pc Harper was 28 when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019.<\/p>\n
He died after getting caught in a strap attached to the back of a car and dragged down a country road as three teenage suspects fled the scene of the burglary.<\/p>\n
The driver of the vehicle, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence and would not be eligible for release.<\/p>\n
Pc Harper\u2019s family have expressed anger and disappointment at the decision not to exempt Cole and Bowers from the plans as well.<\/p>\n
The early release changes were part of the Sentencing Act passed earlier this year that cut the minimum amount of time many offenders would have to spend in prison.<\/p>\n
Burnham: It is \u2018insane\u2019 UK has not hosted World Cup since 1966<\/p>\n