The two men jailed over the killing of Pc Andrew Harper are to be excluded from the government's early release scheme and kept in prison, according to reports in The Daily Telegraph.

Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole are serving 13-year sentences for unlawful act manslaughter. Both men were passengers in a car that dragged the Thames Valley police officer along a country road after he became caught in a trailing tow strap as they fled a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in 2019.

Under current release arrangements, Bowers and Cole were due to be freed next year at the halfway point of their sentences. Under the new proposals reported by the newspaper, offenders serving fixed terms for specific categories of manslaughter will no longer qualify for early discharge.

Unlawful act manslaughter applies where an offender causes someone's death while committing a separate illegal act.

The early release scheme was introduced by Labour in September 2024 to tackle severe overcrowding in prisons, initially allowing certain offenders to be released after serving 40% of their sentence rather than 50%. The 2026 Sentencing Act subsequently lowered that threshold further to a third of a determinate sentence. Since taking office as Prime Minister, Andy Burnham has already excluded rapists and child sex offenders from eligibility.

Mr Burnham had previously pledged to do 'everything possible' to prevent the pair being freed early, following widespread public concern. While he described claims of a policy change regarding manslaughter as 'speculation' earlier this month, he instructed Justice Secretary Alex Norris to conduct a formal review to maximise public safety and minimise releases.

Police chiefs have now been told that Mr Norris will bring forward secondary legislation to amend the Sentencing Act, with the full findings of the review due to be published when Parliament returns from summer recess in September.

A Government spokesperson said: 'The death of Pc Andrew Harper was a horrific crime. Our thoughts are with his family and friends, and we share the anger from the police community that we are in this position.'

The spokesperson added: 'The Prime Minister has asked the Justice Secretary to work through further options to keep a greater number of the most serious offenders in prison, including the killers of Pc Harper. Thanks to tireless campaigning by Andrew's family, Harper's Law means that anyone convicted of killing an emergency worker whilst committing a crime now gets a mandatory life sentence. This Government has gone further by introducing a presumption that anyone convicted of murdering a police, prison or probation officer is handed a whole-life order.'

We do not yet have a confirmed date for when the secondary legislation will be laid before Parliament and come into effect. I will be monitoring the timetable closely once MPs return to Westminster next month.