The Prime Minister said “hundreds” of people will remain in prison as part of changes to the scheme designed to ease prison overcrowding.
He told the BBC: “We’ve come up with a proposal which will allow not just those guilty of manslaughter, the people involved in the killing of Pc Harper, but those who have been convicted for indecent assault, those convicted for death by dangerous driving, all of these offenders now will remain in prison. Hundreds of them.
“I heard obviously what Andrew Harper’s family were saying, I mean who couldn’t? Nobody would want a position to arise where those guilty of killing a police officer are let out early from prison.”
The PM said that extra space would be created by deporting foreign prisoners and releasing some inmates who are serving indefinite sentences.
Burnham ordered a review of the scheme, which is being undertaken by Justice Secretary Alex Norris and is set to be published when Parliament returns from summer recess in September.
Widespread condemnation of the scheme occurred when it emerged that Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole could be released halfway through their 13-year sentences.
They were passengers in the car that dragged PC Harper down a country road after he got caught in a strap attached to the vehicle as they fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in 2019.
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