More than one million people have signed a petition to block two of PC Andrew Harper’s killers from being released from prison early following huge public outcry.

Thames Valley Police Federation (TVPF) launched the petition last week, condemning the government’s decision not to include the killers in exceptions from a new early prison scheme as “outrageous”.

PC Harper, 28, was responding to reports of a quad bike theft in Berkshire in 2019 when he was caught in a strap attached to the back of a car and dragged down a country road as three teenage suspects fled the scene.

Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter, are set to be freed in January - half way through their sentences - under existing plans.

Downing Street has faced significant backlash after it announced some offenders, including the most serious sex offenders, would be exempt from plans to release some prisoners early - but did not include those who have killed first responders.

On Tuesday, prime minister Andy Burnham said he is “increasingly confident” that work to increase space in the prison system “will allow us to reduce the number of people released early and, in the case of the most serious offenders like those convicted of the killing of PC Harper, prevent their early release altogether”.

Mr Burnham said justice secretary Alex Norris will now look at ways to keep “a greater number of the most serious offenders” behind bars and will announce the plans when Parliament returns in September.

In the petition, Aileen O'Connor, chair of the TVPF, said the government’s decision “pours salt into wounds that have never healed”.

“It is an insult to Andrew's family, his friends, his colleagues and the entire policing family,” she added.

The petition has attracted hundreds of comments from supporters, including from current and former officers.

“As an ex TVP officer, it disgusts me the lack of support towards officers, one wrote. “Officers put their life or the line day in, day out and should be going back to their families at the end of the shift. It should be life for life no matter the circumstances but taking a life of an emergency service worker and getting released early is not definitely not okay. I am so angry and my heart goes out to all of his family.”

Another added: “No family should have to face this, least of all the family of a man dedicated to protecting us.”

PC Harper’s mother said she had received a call from Downing Street on Monday night and has “got a little bit of hope that we didn’t have before” that the killers will not be released early.

Discussing the call she had with a member of the prime minister’s staff, Debbie Adlam told BBC Breakfast: “She said that he wanted to convey that he wants to do everything that he can and has more hope now of finding a resolution to this to try and keep them in prison.

“I think the fact that it’s actually come from Downing Street – I’ve got to try and have some faith in it but, at the same time, I have to protect my own feelings.”

But she added: “It feels like a hash. It feels like a rush job. It feels like nobody’s put enough effort into actually look for reasons or ways.

“We are having to push on every level, and it just doesn’t feel like, as a British citizen, I shouldn’t be doing this. They weren’t given extreme sentences, and I’m only asking for them to do what they were given.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson previously said: “The death of PC Andrew Harper was a horrific crime. Our thoughts are with his family and friends, and we share the anger from the police community that we are in this position.

“Thanks to tireless campaigning by Andrew’s family, Harper’s Law means that anyone convicted of killing an emergency worker whilst committing a crime now gets a mandatory life sentence. This government has gone further by introducing a presumption that anyone convicted of murdering a police, prison or probation officer is handed a whole-life order.

“We have been clear that we wanted to go further and block more offenders from getting out sooner into their sentence but could not do so without risking prisons reaching capacity and collapsing.

“If that happened, police could not make arrests, courts could not remand offenders and there would be unchecked criminality on our streets.”