PC Andrew Harper had such ‘horrific’ and ‘catastrophic’ injuries on the night of his death that his colleague did not recognise him, a court has heard.
PC Harper died on August 15 after being dragged behind a car for more than a mile at speeds of about 40mph.
He had tried to stop a group of teenagers from stealing a £10,000 quad bike by chasing their car but he was lassoed around his ankles by a loading strap that the group were using to tow the bike.
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Henry Long, the driver of the Seat Toledo, and two 17-year-old boys who cannot be named for legal reasons, all deny his murder.
Yesterday at the Old Bailey on the sixth day of the trial, a statement was read from police officer Simon Pink, a roads police officer who was on duty in West Berkshire that night.
Court sketch of Henry Long listening to evidence. Picture: Elizabeth Cook/ PA
He described following the 999 call through the radio channels before racing to the scene when he heard that an officer had been ‘seriously injured’.
He said: “I know Andy, but from his injuries I could not recognise him. I saw that he had horrific and catastrophic injuries.”
He recalled using his defibrillator to try and save PC Harper before he walked around the area with another colleague stop the ‘disturbance of the scene’.
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Another police officer Nick Kluger, who is an armed police officer, also tried to save PC Harper’s life that night.
In a statement read to the court PC Kluger described giving him CPR, and said his 'adrenaline' kept him going.
He told PC Harper to ‘stay with me buddy’ before paramedic Chris Darley arrived at the scene.
File photo of PC Harper.
Mr Darley got to PC Harper at 11.42pm, driving through police cordons that had already been put in place on Ufton Lane.
In the next three minutes Mr Darley assessed PC Harper and his injuries and watched over other officers trying desperately to save him.
He added: “At 23.45 I declared PC Harper’s life extinct. I felt it was unfair after what he had been through to carry on [with CPR].”
Meanwhile the police helicopter had already been deployed and was hovering over the Four Houses Corner caravan site, where the ‘very hot’ Seat Toledo driven by Long was spotted from above.
Audio between the officers on the ground, the control room and those in the sky was also played to the court.
In it somebody tells the officers to approach with caution, explaining: “Please be mindful that these people have already seriously injured one of our officers.”
Later that night police were told to arrest anybody at the caravan site who was of the ‘relevant age’, Long and one of the 17-year-old boys were among the 10 who left in handcuffs.
Long asked police ‘do I look like a murderer?’ before saying ‘no, this is upsetting’.
The trial continues.
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