A man charged with the murder of PC Andrew Harper told police he wasn’t there because he was watching Fast and Furious, a court has heard.
PC Andrew Harper died from multiple injuries when he became tangled in a crane strap attached to the boot of a SEAT Toledo on August 15 last year.
He was responding to the reported theft of a quad bike from a home near the village of Sulhamstead in Berkshire.
Henry Long, 18, from Mortimer, Reading, and two 17-year-olds, who cannot be named for legal reasons, all deny murdering the Thames Valley Police officer.
They all admit conspiring to steal the quadbike and Long has admitted to the manslaughter of PC Harper, which the younger boys deny.
Long, who was at the wheel of the SEAT Toledo, told officers he had been at home watching the action movie ‘Fast and Furious’ at the time and had no involvement with trying to steal the quad bike.
He now admits he was the getaway driver but had no idea the officer was snared behind the car in the sling.
When he was charged with the murder of PC Harper, Long said: ‘I don’t give a f***,’ the court heard.
PC Andrew Harper (pictured next to his wife Lissie) died from multiple injuries when he became tangled in a crane strap attached to the boot of a SEAT Toledo on August 15 last year
Henry Long, 18, (pictured earlier this week) from Mortimer, Reading, and two 17-year-olds, who cannot be named for legal reasons, all deny murdering the Thames Valley Police officer in August last year
Lissie Harper, the wife of Andrew Harper, is pictured being driven into the Old Bailey earlier this week
The court heard earlier today how PC Harper was killed when he was dragged along by a car and was thrown around ‘like a rag doll’.
One witness who saw him being dragged along, Jack Whittenham, mistakenly thought he had seen an injured deer.
Prosecutor Brian Altman QC told the Old Bailey: ‘It was Mr Whittenham who thought it was a bloodied deer attached to the car, but he quickly realised it was someone trapped by both ankles with arms flailing around, as he described it, like a rag doll, being dragged around the road.
‘He saw the whole body striking the kerb on the other side of the road.’
PC Andrew Harper suffered ‘catastrophic injuries’ after being dragged behind a car along a country road, jurors were told.
Prosecutor Brian Altman QC said the 28-year-old officer was found completely naked, save for his boots and socks.
Jurors were told that consultant forensic pathologist Dr Ashley Fegan-Earl believed PC Harper would have been rendered deeply unconscious as soon as he hit the ground.
Prosecutor Brian Altman QC told the court: ‘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.’
When PC Harper was found lying in the road, he was breathing but the pattern was reflexive and ‘was that of a deeply unconscious individual’.
Two police dog handlers had been alerted and were waiting in their cars at the A4 junction.
One, PC Andrew Kemp saw his colleague being dragged behind the car, the court heard.
Driver Henry Long, 18, has admitted manslaughter but denies murder
Mr Kemp said: ‘As the SEAT crossed the A4, PC Kemp saw what he thought was strapping trailing from the vehicle, and, as he turned into Ufton Lane, he saw what he thought were ratchet straps in the road.
‘To his right he saw out of the corner of his eye something moving and tumbling in the road.
‘At the same time, he heard on the radio a message from his colleague PC Christopher Bushnell, the other dog unit, who had driven ahead of him, that there was a “body from the car” or “thrown from the car”.
‘While PC Christopher Bushnell gave chase in a Mitsubishi Outlander, PC Kemp pulled over and got out of his car.
‘He realised what he had seen was PC Harper’s body. He described PC Harper as completely naked, save his boots and his socks.
He added: ‘He had sustained utterly catastrophic injuries.’
The officer who was with him, PC Andrew Shaw, likened the moment he was dragged away to when a water-skier loses his footing and is whipped forward before he lands on his back.
PC Katherine Darling responding to the radio call for assistance and PC Paul South, both described seeing blood trails on the road.
PC Darling described seeing ‘bright red and running all the way down the centre of the road on tarmac.’
‘There was a constant stretch of a crimson blood red track that was clearly still wet and glistening in the light of their headlights,’ Mr Altman said.
A court artist sketch of Henry Long, 18, (left) sitting beside a dock officer at the Old Bailey today
Even though PC Harper was breathing when he was found in the road, his injuries were unsurvivable and he was pronounced dead at the scene at 11.45pm.
Henry Long, 18, and two 17-year-old boys have denied murder but admitted conspiracy to steal a quad bike. Long also admits manslaughter.
PC Harper’s alleged killers drove straight at a police car in their bid ‘not to get caught at all costs’, jurors heard.
A police officer in pursuit of the suspects had paused at a fork in the road when he saw the Seat heading back towards him.
Mr Altman said the vehicle came straight at him very quickly, forcing him to veer to the left as it passed, narrowly missing him.
He said: ‘In his view, the driver had deliberately chosen to drive straight at him.
‘This evidence further demonstrates the defendants’ determination to escape and not get caught at all costs.’
Earlier, PC Christopher Bushnell had seen PC Harper’s body ‘tumbling in the road’, jurors heard.
The suspects’ Seat made off after the stricken officer became detached, with PC Bushnell in pursuit.
An examination of the officer’s Mitsubishi Outlander later showed no evidence it had made any contact to PC Harper’s body.
A post-mortem examination found no injuries to indicate a strike from another vehicle, jurors were told.
Jurors were shown video from a police helicopter above a travellers’ camp site where the suspects’ Seat was located.
The vehicle was described in audio as being ‘very, very, hot’, with people standing nearby.
An officer is heard to say ‘these people have already injured one of our officers’ as he suggested they get there as quickly as possible.
PC Bushnell had directed the helicopter to the travellers’ site after losing sight of the Seat about three-quarters of a mile away.
Jurors were later told that a reconstruction of the way the Seat was driven was carried out by Simon Hall, an investigator from the Transport Research Laboratory at 11.30pm on September 4.
He first did a test run with three colleagues in the Seat, pulling a mannequin of the same weight of Pc Harper behind, then swerving to follow the pattern thought to have been followed by Long on August 15.
PC Harper had married his childhood sweetheart Lissie just one month before his death
Mr Altman told the jury: ‘It was his opinion that anyone driving the Seat could not fail to be aware that something of significant weight was being dragged behind the vehicle.
‘The drag effect on both the steering and the handling of the car, and, most significantly, the noise of the mannequin being dragged along the road, meant that its presence behind the vehicle was clear and obvious.’
Mr Hall concluded that at times Long had steered vigorously from side to side in an attempt to dislodge ‘whatever the driver perceived was being dragged by the car’, the court heard.
A mannequin similar in weight to PC Harper was strapped to the back of the Seat Toledo and dragged along the same route as officers reconstructed his death.
Mr Altman said: ‘For the fourth part of the reconstruction, a mannequin of a similar weight to PC Harper, wearing police uniform and equipment, was attached via a strap tied to the nearside boot hinge, and dragged along the route using the same Seat.
‘Mr Simon Hall drove the car with his three colleagues. On this occasion, he said it became obvious that he was dragging the mannequin.
‘The drag on the road and the noise created by its movement were significant.
‘The drag effect on both the steering and the handling of the car, and, most significantly, the noise of the mannequin being dragged along the road, meant that its presence behind the vehicle was clear and obvious.’
Long was arrested at the Fendt Diamond caravan site along with one of the 17-year-olds.
Neither were found to have a mobile phone on them or in the caravan. PC Warren Mason said he did not see any reaction in the eyes of the two.
Mr Altman said: ‘He noted a lack of reaction when Long and Bowers were told a police officer had died and that they were being arrested on suspicion of murder.
‘Neither flinched. He recalled both being very quiet and calm and neither appeared particularly shocked or surprised by what was being said.’
When he was taken into custody Long’s solicitor read out a prepared statement.
‘I am not involved in this incident. I have never been to a house yesterday looking at Quad bikes. My fingerprints or DNA will not be on the quad bike.
‘At 5pm I can’t remember exactly where I was but I got to 4 Houses caravan site about 8.30pm and I stayed there all evening until police came and arrested me.
‘I was with my auntie Sammi Jo and her husband Sammy Smith. My cousin Shelby Smith and my other cousin.
‘We watched DVD’s. One was goonies, fast and furious. I went bed I think around 10.30pm. Police woke me up. I had been outside just for a cigarette but otherwise had not left.
‘I do not believe that I have been in a beige SEAT Toledo number plate GK53.. I certainly have never been in it yesterday but there are numerous cars on the site.’
When Long was arrested after repeatedly lying to police in a series of interviews.
He said: ‘I don’t give a f*ck about any of this.’
Mr Altman said: ‘His solicitor tried to encourage him to be quiet as the charges were read to him.’
Mr Altman added: ‘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 Privett House 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.
Police officers at the scene near Ufton Lane, Sulhamstead, Berkshire, where Thames Valley PC Andrew Harper, 28, died last August
Mr Altman said the three teenagers knew they had been stopped by the police.
‘And in the glare of those blue and white emergency lights and the police car’s rear lights, the 17-year-old 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 the 17-year-old 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 the 17-year-old 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.’
Deborah and Phil Adlam, the mother and stepfather of PC Andrew Harper, pictured outside the Old Bailey at the time of a previous hearing on January 7
Mr Altman told the jury: ‘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 fact that neither Long nor the other two defendants had planned for or even wanted PC Harper to become caught in the strap is neither here nor there.
‘We say that the defendants had gone to Privett House prepared to use serious violence amounting to really serious bodily harm, if the need arose, to effect their plan to steal the quad bike from premises which were occupied and to make good their escape.
‘So, we say all the defendants are guilty, not just of conspiracy to steal, which as you know they have all accepted, but also of murder.
‘Whether you accept that proposition will be a matter for you to decide on the totality of the evidence.’
Bespectacled Thomas King, 21, of Bramley, Hampshire, earlier admitted conspiring to steal the same quad bike belonging to Peter Wallace and will be sentenced on a date to be fixed.
Long, of Mortimer, Reading, admits manslaughter and conspiracy to steal but denies murder.
The 17-year-olds admit conspiracy to steal but deny murder.
The trial continues.