Traveller site linked to PC's death has £4.2m revamp

A £4.2m renovation of a traveller site where PC Andrew Harper's killers were arrested after his death is almost finished.

PC Harper died after being dragged along the road by three teenage quad bike thieves in 2019.

Two of the arrests were made at the Four Houses Corner site in Ufton Nervet, Berkshire, which was shut in 2020 due to its dilapidated state.

The upgrade was approved despite more than 50 objections, including one from Thames Valley Police, and a plea from PC Harper's mother.

The renovation of the site was given the go-ahead at a West Berkshire Council meeting last March, with final approval being granted by the government shortly afterwards.

During the meeting, Graham Bridgman from Mortimer Parish Council said the site was a "hotbed of criminality" due to the circumstances of PC Harper's death.

He said: "There is a history of criminality at this site and the fear of that continuing in the future."

Councillor Nick Carter argued no other ethnic group would be described as "inherently criminal".

Debbie Adlam, PC Harper's mother, said she was "concerned" about police officers who might have to attend the site in future, and asked the planning committee: "If Andrew was your son, would you approve this?"

Council officers and councillors said they recognised the tragic circumstances of PC Harper's death but said they were unable to find alternative sites for traveller communities.

Henry Long, from Mortimer, was arrested at the site and jailed for 16 years after a trial in 2020. His accomplices Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole were each sentenced to 13 years.

PC Harper died after he was dragged along country lanes in Berkshire as he and a colleague responded to reports of a quad bike theft.

An appeal to increase his killers' sentences was rejected but Harper's Law was passed in April 2022 after a campaign by his wife Lissie Harper, which requires life imprisonment for anyone who causes the death of emergency workers.

The upgraded site contains 17 pitches for travelling communities, with caravans arranged in a circle, and individual day room accommodation for each pitch, providing a kitchen, toilet and bathroom.

It is unclear when the site will open.

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