PC Andrew Harper’s murder trial is stopped after three jurors go into self isolation with coronavirus
- Henry Long, 18, and two 17-year-olds are accused of killing Pc Andrew Harper
- The Thames Valley officer was dragged on the road for a mile, the court heard
- But today, the Old Bailey trial has been adjourned and jurors discharged
- Three jurors have gone into self isolation due to coronavirus
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
The jury in the Old Bailey trial of three teenagers for the murder of Pc Andrew Harper has been discharged due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Henry Long, 18, and two 17-year-old boys were accused of killing Pc Harper in August last year.
The 28-year-old Thames Valley officer became entangled in a tow rope as he tried to apprehend quad bike thieves, jurors were told.
The jury in the Old Bailey trial of three teenagers for the murder of Pc Andrew Harper has been discharged due to the coronavirus pandemic
The stricken officer was probably knocked unconscious as he fell, then dragged more than a mile along country lanes behind a Seat Toledo car driven by Long, the court was told.
Colleagues desperately tried to save him but he suffered catastrophic injuries and died at the scene near Sulhamstead, in Berkshire.
Long, of Mortimer, Reading, admitted manslaughter and conspiracy to steal a quad bike but denied murder.
PC Harper had married his childhood sweetheart Lissie just one month before his death
Henry Long, 18, (pictured ) 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
The two youths, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted conspiracy to steal but denied murder and manslaughter.
Pc Harper’s widow Lissie and other family members attended the trial which opened on March 10.
Over two weeks, the jury viewed harrowing dash-cam footage and heard a string of eyewitness accounts, with one describing how he at first mistook Pc Harper’s body for a deer.
Last week, the jury dropped from 12 men and women to 10 due to jurors going into self-isolation.
A man attempting to get into a Seat car after it was stopped by Pc Andrew Harper and Pc Andrew Shaw who were responding to a burglary in progress near Stanford Dingley in Berkshire
On Monday, Mr Justice Edis made a statement in court that the remaining jurors were discharged and the trial adjourned.
He said he had made the decision with a ‘heavy heart’ after a third juror went into isolation over the weekend.
He said: ‘It is with great regret that I have decided to discharge the jury and to adjourn this trial.
‘This is because a third juror is now self-isolating. Her 91-year-old father tested positive for the virus over the weekend and she is required to self-isolate for 14 days.
‘When she contacted the court yesterday she was herself not suffering any symptoms and I very much hope that this continues.
‘I have taken this decision with a heavy heart because I am acutely conscious of the need of those who loved Police Constable Harper, who would have been 29 yesterday, for this process to come to a conclusion.’
The judge set a review hearing on June 1 to set a date for the trial to start again.
The defendants remain custody until the fresh trial on a date to be fixed.
The trial had been one of eight at the Old Bailey to continue last week despite the pandemic.
More than a dozen high-profile Old Bailey trials had already been postponed following measures to delay the spread of Covid-19.
Last Tuesday, it was announced that upcoming criminal trials lasting more than three days would be put off.
Earlier the same day, another Old Bailey jury convicted the Manchester Arena bomber’s brother Hashem Abedi of 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to cause explosions.
On Monday, further measures were announced putting criminal trials on hold.