A campaign by PC Andrew Harper's widow to give mandatory life sentences to the killers of emergency service workers has been backed by the government.

If passed, the new law would introduce mandatory life sentences for those who kill on-duty emergency workers while committing a crime.

Courts currently impose life sentences for murder, with a whole-life - or so-called "life means life" - order being the starting point if a police officer is murdered.

PC Harper's killers were cleared of murder and instead sentenced for manslaughter.

After his death, Mrs Harper said she had found herself in a "lost and endless world of numb despair".

Mrs Harper, from Wallingford in Oxfordshire, said it had been a "long journey" but her late husband "would be proud to see Harper's Law reach this important milestone".

"Emergency services workers require extra protection," she said.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: "PC Andrew Harper's killing was shocking.

"Those who seek to harm our emergency service workers represent the very worst of humanity and it is right that future killers be stripped of the freedom to walk our streets with a life sentence.".

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