Pc Andrew Harper murder trial – officer was dragged by his ankles for a mile
Case opens into death of newly-wed officer who died in West Berkshire
Pc Andrew Harper was dragged along West Berkshire roads for more than a mile before he died, a jury heard today (Tuesday).
The 28-year-old newly-wed police officer was "swung like a pendulum" after becoming entangled in a strap attached to a vehicle driven by 18-year-old Henry Long from Mortimer.
Pc Harper had been responding to reports of a burglary in Bradfield Southend on August 15 last year.
A jury at The Old Bailey heard today that he was killed "in truly shocking circumstances" and suffered "unsurvivable injuries." But jurors heard that the officer was likely to have been unconscious throughout.
Long has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denies murder, saying he did not know he was dragging anyone behind the vehicle and, therefore, intent to murder.
Prosecuting, Brian Altman QC said: "With his ankles caught in a strap that was trailing behind a car being driven at speed along a country lane, he was dragged for over a mile along the road surface, swung from side to side like a pendulum in an effort to dislodge him, losing items of his police uniform along the way, with the rest of his uniform being quite literally ripped and stripped from his body.
"When, at last, he became disentangled, he was left with the most awful injuries, from which he died there on the road, surrounded by colleagues who tried in vain to save him.
"His injuries were simply not survivable, and he could not be saved... this was a completely senseless killing of a young police officer in the line of duty."
The court heard that Thames Valley Police received a report of the theft of a quad bike at a property in Bradfield Southend at 11.17pm.
Mr Altman said that three or four masked and gloved men had fled with a Honda quad bike.
The court heard that Pc Harper and his colleague, Pc Andrew Shaw, were on duty in the area and were heading back to their base station at Abingdon when they heard a call about a burglary in progress.
Mr Altman said: "Despite it being well beyond the end of their shift, because they were close and thought they could help, they responded to the call. It was a decision that was to cost Andrew Harper his life".
The officers drove up Lambdens Hill into Admoor Lane where they met a SEAT Toledo, which had been involved in the theft.
"Inside the car at this time were two of the three defendants: Henry Long who was driving it, and accepts he was driving it."
Two other defendants, aged 17 and who cannot be identified for legal reasons, were also present, one in the passenger seat and one on the quad bike.
Mr Altman said that attached to the nearside hinge of the SEAT car’s boot lid was a crane strap, which formed a loop.
They had been seen fixing the crane strap to the boot and wind the other end of it around the handlebars of the quad bike before driving off, he added.
"Henry Long drove off down the country lane, with the two teenagers, one riding the quad bike as it freewheeled behind their car, secured by the crane strap.
"Pausing there, it is perfectly clear that all three had thought about and carefully planned this criminal enterprise. There was no point going to all this effort to steal a brand new, valuable quad bike only to be caught. They had clearly reckoned with the risk they might be stopped by the police.
"Not only did they wear gloves and disguise themselves with masks, but also they had disconnected all the rear light clusters to the car – brake, side and indicator lights – so that in any pursuit along dark country lanes they could disappear into the night, without trace, as had been their plan."
The court heard that the crane strap became unhitched from the handlebars of the quad bike.
At this point, Pc Shaw activated the unmarked police car’s blue and white emergency lights.
The court heard that Pc Harper ran to intercept one of the teenagers trying to get into the SEAT, but he failed to do so.
Mr Altman said: "Illuminated by the rear lights of the police car, as well as by the pulsating blue and white emergency lights, [the teenager] could not fail to have seen Pc Harper, who was within feet of him, and to have realised he was a police officer in full uniform.
"In his rush to ensure that he and his friends did not get caught, [the teenager], who had unhitched the crane strap from the quad bike, had been unable to replace the crane strap in the car boot.
"Pc Harper, who was but a few feet from [the teenager], had simply not seen or realised – why should he? - that in that moment he had stepped, with both feet, it appears, into the loop made on the road surface by the trailing crane strap.
"As Long floored the SEAT car to make good their escape, Pc Harper was lassoed around his ankles by the loop of the strap. It is the prosecution case that Long drove that car knowing full well that Pc Harper was entangled in the strap, and he drove it in a manner calculated to dislodge him, and to make good their escape, as had been their plan all along".
The court heard that the average speed at which Henry Long drove the car along that dark and narrow country lane was a little over 42.5mph.
Mr Altman said that evidence from the scene, including personal items and clothing that were ripped from Pc Harper as he was dragged to his death, illustrated attempts to dislodge him from the strap, which "each knew full well".
Mr Altman said: "Pc Shaw, the police car driver, very quickly realised something was very wrong. He had seen Pc Harper go round behind the police car and then saw him disappear.
"Of course, Pc Shaw’s car was not facing in the direction in which the defendants had made off at speed. So he had to reverse up, expecting to find his colleague standing in the road waiting for him.
"Eventually, he managed to turn around in a small lane where Admoor Lane meets Lambdens Hill, and, now, facing in the right direction, Pc Shaw drove back down Lambdens Hill but had to stop when he came across what turned out to be Pc Harper’s stab vest in the road which had been torn from him. Having picked it up and placed it in his car, Pc Shaw drove on".
Mr Altman said: "Pc Harper, who was still attached to the car as they crossed the A4, was being deliberately swung like a pendulum in an effort to dislodge him. It provides evidence of how he was dragged along that narrow country lane, abraded by the metalled road surface, striking the hedgerows and other objects, as the force of the dragging twisted and turned him by his ankles on the strap.
"Needless to say, Pc Harper had suffered absolutely catastrophic, unsurvivable injuries."
Dr Fegan-Earl, the pathologist who conducted the post-mortem on Pc Harper, found no definitive injuries indicative of a strike from another vehicle.
The court heard that, in Dr Fegan-Earl's opinion, it should have been obvious to the driver of the SEAT that something was attached to the rear of the car and was being dragged by it.
Mr Altman said: "In conclusion, having considered the evidence that was presented to him, in his opinion, Pc Harper’s lower legs became entangled in a rope attached to the SEAT car, causing him to fall violently to the ground in an unprotected manner, sustaining a head injury which would likely have resulted in deep unconsciousness. He was then dragged for over a mile before becoming detached from the rope."
Summing up the prosecution's case, Mr Altman said: "These three went on a criminal expedition that August night to steal a new, high value quad bike. They were determined to succeed, having been thwarted once already. It ended with the killing of a young police officer.
"What they had discovered when they first attempted to steal the quad bike at [the property] was a man who was not scared to challenge them. But that did not stop them or make them rethink. They simply upped the ante.
"They gathered together at the Four Houses Corner travellers’ site before setting off to execute their plan.
"They were gloved up, masked up and we suggest you might conclude, on this second occasion, quite deliberately tooled-up – to meet with serious violence, if necessary, any challenge by anyone. There was no point going to all this trouble only to be stopped, identified or caught.
"Indeed, their sophisticated planning even extended to the car. The number plates were taped over during the first sortie to avoid identification of the car and ultimately them. During the night-time sortie, we know the brake and rear side lights had been deliberately disabled to effect an escape in the dark along unlit country lanes. This had all been very carefully planned and thought through.
"Meeting Pc Harper and Pc Shaw’s police car along Admoor Road was a hazard for which they had catered.
"They knew they were police. The blue lights told them that. And in the glare of those blue and white emergency lights and the police car’s rear lights, [one of the 17-year-olds] could have been in no doubt whatsoever that he was feet and indeed just seconds away from being apprehended by a policeman in uniform – by the courageous Pc Harper – as is obvious by him having to jump through a window to get into the SEAT car to flee. He must have communicated to the others that he had just escaped a policeman in uniform.
"It was because he had unhitched the quad bike and had no time to place the crane strap into the boot that its large loop was left trailing on the road surface.
"Trapped by his ankles, mercifully probably rendered unconscious from the start, so that he knew nothing about it, he was dragged by Long’s driving for over a mile to his death.
"It is on all the evidence that, in the case of Long, the prosecution invites you to reject any claim he did not realise that he was dragging a policeman in the shape of Pc Harper behind that car for over a mile to his inevitable death.
"We suggest that leads to the irresistible conclusion that he intended to kill Pc Harper or to do him really serious bodily injury. And as Pc Harper died, that makes Long guilty of murder.
"You will recall that he accepts his guilt of manslaughter but on the basis that he did not know that Pc Harper was attached to the car and being dragged along the road by him, which the prosecution do not accept.
"The prosecution suggest that not only did he know he was dragging a policeman, but also he intended by his actions to dislodge him from the strap to make good what had been the plan all along; to make good their escape from their criminal enterprise – the conspiracy to steal - to which all the defendants have since pleaded guilty. You will want to ask what else can sensibly explain the manner of his driving?"
The trial, scheduled for six weeks, continues.
