Albert Bowers, one of three teenagers convicted over the death of PC Andrew Harper in 2019, has reportedly shown no remorse in prison and is said by insiders to act as "king of the wing" at HMP Frankland, the high-security Durham jail nicknamed "Monster Mansion". The revelations matter because Bowers had until recently been considered eligible for early release under a government scheme, a prospect that campaigners including PC Harper's widow, Lissie, and mother, Debbie Adlam, fought to overturn; the case has become a flashpoint in the wider debate over early-release schemes introduced to ease prison overcrowding.

It has also emerged that Bowers has a previously unreported conviction for sexual assault, committed when he was under 18, adding to a "rap sheet" that includes battery, possession and racially aggravated offences. PC Harper, 28, was dragged for more than a mile behind a car driven by ringleader Henry Long after confronting suspected burglars near the A4 Bath Road in Berkshire in August 2019; Bowers and fellow teenager Jessie Cole received 13-year manslaughter sentences, while Long was jailed for 16 years, and all three were cleared of murder. Following a public campaign and a petition signed by more than a million people, anyone convicted of unlawful killing has now been excluded from the early-release scheme.