Image copyright FamilyHandout The widow of PC Andrew Harper has criticised the reported £465,000 in legal aid received by his killers.
Lissie Harper, 29, said she was “horrified” at the amount spent on “defending the indefensible”, after the figure was reported by the Daily Mail.
PC Harper suffered fatal injuries when his ankles became caught in a strap trailing behind a vehicle in August 2019 and was dragged to his death.
Three men were acquitted of his murder and sentenced for manslaughter.
Mrs Harper, who had been married to her 28-year-old husband for just four weeks before he was killed, said in a statement: “This just doesn’t seem right or fair.
“Not only did we not get justice for Andrew, we now know the cost of that injustice.
“I am sure the public – whose support for me has been unstinting – will be as horrified as I am to know how much money is going towards paying this trio’s escalating legal costs.”
Mrs Harper is campaigning for Harper’s Law to ensure those who kill emergency workers are jailed for life.
She said the news of the legal aid costs had made her “more determined than ever to keep on fighting for Harper’s Law, which would mean these despicable criminals are jailed for life”.
Two of his killers – 18-year-old Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole – last week lodged applications with the Court of Appeal seeking permission to challenge their convictions and their 13-year prison sentences.
They were jailed alongside Henry Long, 19, who was given a 16-year prison sentence.
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