PC Andrew Harper murder trial: Police officer describes seeing colleague dragged behind fleeing car

Witness also avoided being rammed by fleeing vehicle, court hears. Warning: This story contains detail some readers may find upsetting

PC Andrew Harper was a member of Thames Valley Police's roads policing proactive unit (EPA)

A police officer has described the moment he saw his colleague being dragged to his death along a road for almost a mile.

PC Christopher Bushnell told a court he initially did not recognise PC Andrew Harper in the dark as he pursued a Seat Toledo near the A4 in Berkshire.

He said he only gradually realised that the object behind the Seat was a person.

Jurors heard PC Harper had become entangled in a tow rope attached to the boot of a fleeing car as he tried to apprehend quad bike thieves on the night of 15 August last year.

The 28-year-old officer suffered catastrophic injuries and was pronounced dead after being found lying unconscious in the road.

PC Bushnell told the Old Bailey he was unable to process what he was seeing as he gave chase to the Seat in the dark.

“I peered in the dark to see what was behind it. I did not know what it was. I could see whatever it was was swinging from left to right.

“As I got closer, 50 metres away, I came to the conclusion it was a deer carcass.”

He said the Seat then began to accelerate away as he put on his blue flashing lights.

It was at this point PC Bushnell realised the truth, he said.

He lost sight of the vehicle and paused his pursuit at a fork in the road after raising the alarm about a body in the road.

PC Bushnell described how he then saw the Seat returning down the hill, forcing him to veer to the left to avoid a collision.

“Without warning it came straight towards me,” he said. “There were no lights on the vehicle.

“I then reared to the left. I took the view that they had deliberately chosen to drive straight at me.

“I thought to myself. ‘You’re going to get rammed here’.”

Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw QC told the officer: “It was an extremely traumatic event for you. Your duty that night was brought to an end for obvious reasons.”

The Seat was later located by a police helicopter at a nearby travellers’ campsite.

Driver Henry Long, 19, and his passengers Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, 18, from near Reading, deny murder.

They have admitted conspiracy to steal the quad bike and Long has also pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The Old Bailey retrial continues.

Additional reporting by Press Association