Pc Andrew Harper: £100,000 raised for killed officer's widow and family as police quiz 10 suspects

Pc Andrew Harper Credit: Thames Valley Police/Family Handout/PA

Nearly £100,000 has been donated to the family and widow of Pc Andrew Harper, who was killed in the line of duty in Berkshire earlier this week.

The newlywed officer died of multiple injuries after he was dragged along by a vehicle after attending reports of a robbery in the village of Bradfield Southend, Berkshire, at 11.30pm on Thursday night.

Ten males, aged between 13 and 30, were arrested at a nearby caravan park an hour after the incident, Thames Valley Police confirmed.

Investigators were granted a further 24 hours to question the ten by magistrates on Sunday night.

A fundraising page set up by Thames Valley Police to support Pc Harper's widow, Lissie, has already raised more than £79,000.

On the page, it reads: “We confront danger on a daily basis. We know there is a risk when we put on the uniform but we do so as we are proud to protect the public.

“Sadly on very rare and horrendous occasions a colleague makes the ultimate sacrifice. We will ensure that heroism is never forgotten.”

Pc Harper’s father, Philip, said the family have been “absolutely devastated” by the death, telling Sky News: “We’re in a bad place.”

It reads: “We confront danger on a daily basis. We know there is a risk when we put on the uniform but we do so as we are proud to protect the public.

“Sadly on very rare and horrendous occasions a colleague makes the ultimate sacrifice. We will ensure that heroism is never forgotten.”

Pc Andrew Harper was killed in the line of duty on Thursday. Credit: PA

Pc Harper's father, Philip, said the family have been "absolutely devastated" by the death, saying: “We’re in a bad place.”

Pc Harper tied the knot four weeks ago in what family members described as a "dream wedding", and was said to be going on his honeymoon in only a few days.

Photographs show the couple celebrating their wedding at the Ardington House, a Georgian manor set in gardens and parkland in Oxfordshire.

Country roads near the site where the supsects were arrested remain closed as police continue to search for evidence.

Forensic experts were gathered near to a black hatchback car inside the park on Saturday.

Police officers search a road near the Four Houses Corner caravan site Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Donations have also flooded into a fundraising page set up by Pc Harper for children suffering with cancer.

He made the page with a £500 target for the 20-mile, 200-obstacle Dirty Weekend race in Peterborough in May next year.

But a deluge of donations has now taken the total amount raised to more than £17,000 in aid of Children with Cancer UK.

He had written: “Even if only one child benefits then it will be well and truly worth it.”

Police officers stand in silence at the scene Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA

PC Harper is the first officer to be killed in the line of duty since March 2017, when unarmed Pc Keith Palmer was stabbed by Khalid Massod during the Westminster Bridge terror attack.

Yet it comes off the back of a police officer in Birmingham being run over, as well as another officer in Leyton who was stabbed with a machete.

A police officer arranges flowers left near the scene where Pc Andrew Harper died Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the death of Pc Harper a “mindless and brutal” crime, saying he was “shocked and appalled” by the attack.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said she had “instructed the Home Office to urgently explore what we can do to better support the families of our brave police officers who are seriously injured or worse by cowardly criminals”.