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Moving epaulette tribute to PC killed on duty




Shoulder numbers from around the world will be used to create memorial mural

It started with a single epaulette left at the scene, in memory of a fallen colleague.

Now more than 20,000 epaulettes from service personnel around the globe have been sent in to honour a police officer killed while on duty in West Berkshire last year.

PC Andrew Harper (pictured below) died in August after being dragged along the road by a vehicle near Sulhamstead. He had been attending reports of a burglary in Bradfield Southend.

It was an incident that touched the hearts of the nation and Northamptonshire police officer, Stuart Roberts, was one of them.

“I think PC Harper’s death touched everybody,” he explained. “Not just the tragedy of it but also in his back story. He’d just married his childhood sweetheart, Lissie, and they had so much to look forward to and, in the click of a finger, that was gone.

“I was only an hour away so jumped on my motorbike and headed down.

“I couldn’t carry any flowers on my bike so decided to leave one of my epaulettes instead.”

After posting a photograph of his moving tribute to 28-year-old PC Harper on social media, PC Roberts says the idea for a larger memorial evolved.

He decided to begin a campaign to collect shoulder numbers from other protective services in memory of PC Harper.

Since that day, emergency services, the military, border control and prison officers from as far afield as New Zealand, Australia, America, Canada, the Falklands, South Africa, Kosovo, Sudan, Germany, France, Spain and Iraq have been sending their epaulettes to PC Roberts.

“The Facebook group we created now has about 16,000 members and has become, although not by design, a great place to share experiences and catch up with old colleagues people haven’t seen for 20 years or more,” he added. “People have also been posting a lot about the people they have lost.

“It is no longer just about PC Harper, it is about everybody. It is not just about emergency services either, it is about anyone who wears an epaulette.”

PC Roberts is now working with local artist Sam Bailey to create a mural in honour of all those who serve and protect the public, using all of the epaulettes sent in to him.

It is hoped the mural will be on display for the public to see in the future.

Anyone wishing to add to the collection can continue to send their epaulettes in until the end of February. You can post them to: PC 510 Stuart Roberts, SCIU, Northants Police HQ, Wootton Hall, Northampton, NN4 0JQ.



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