“No prisoners will be let out under this policy until we have conducted an urgent review and done everything we can to minimise risk to the public.
“Where changes are needed, we will not hesitate to make them.”
It comes after the family of police officer Andrew Harper criticised the fact that two of his killers were being considered for early release
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Lissie Harper, his widow, described the scheme as “deplorable”.
Pc Harper was 28 years old when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019.
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The driver of the vehicle that caused Pc Harper’s death, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence, and would not have been eligible for the scheme.
But early release was on the cards for Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were passengers in the car and handed 13 years in custody for manslaughter after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2020.
Both men could have become eligible to be released from prison after serving half of their sentences, rather than two-thirds.
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