PC Andrew Harper's grieving mother slams proposed £5m redevelopment of notorious Travellers' campsite where her son's killers hid and burned evidence

The grieving mother of slain PC Andrew Harper has slammed a proposed £5 million redevelopment of a notorious travellers' camp where her son's killers hid and burned evidence.

Deborah Adlam said plans to upgrade the Four Houses Corner caravan site in the leafy village of Burghfield Common, Berkshire, are an insult to her son's memory.

In opposition to the site's facelift Deborah said: 'I have to speak up, I can't take this laying down, for Andrew, his memory and particularly the colleagues of Andrew.'

PC Harper, 28, was dragged to his death while responding to a quad bike theft in August 2019.

The hero officer was trying to stop Albert Bowers, 18, Henry Long, 19, and Jessie Cole, 18, after they had stolen the £10,000 quad bike when he got caught up in a tow rope and was dragged a mile along a country road near Reading.

The gang fled to Four Houses Corner where they were arrested by police hours later.

They were found guilty of manslaughter, having been acquitted of murder.

Long was jailed for 16 years while Cole and Bowers were sentenced to 13 years.

The Four Houses Corner caravan park – which is currently empty and fenced off - was cleared and vacated in 2020 after the police investigation had shown how the area had become dilapidated and filled with chemical and human waste, making it uninhabitable.

Residents were moved to social housing nearby as West Berkshire Council decided what to do next with the land.

No work has taken place over the last three years and the site currently stands empty, guarded by 24-hour security.

But now council chiefs want to erect 18 double permanent traveller homes, a play area, a kitchen and utilities building as fears grow that the same families who shielded PC Harper's killers will be moved back.

PC Harper's mother Deborah, 56, told a planning meeting that the new traveller's camp on the old site could trigger suicidal thoughts among some of her son's former colleagues, especially those who were there when he died.

She said: 'They remain haunted by what they saw that night. They were there, they have to live with what they've seen. That connection to the site will exist always for us and for the police community.

'This is going to be reopened with a larger number of people living there and I'd like to know basically who will be living there? Is it going to be the same families? And how will that be managed?

'This is an issue for me. Who is going to live there, should it be approved? What we've seen from people resident there at the time is nothing short of appalling to be quite honest. We've had no sense of empathy from their community whatsoever.

'In a few short years, the people who are actually responsible are going to be back out on the street. There's been concerns with the police about that site for quite a long time in the past. The police have been there regularly.

'They've had their tyres slashed, their windows broken and they've had to turn up in pairs for their own safety. Now, that cannot be right and what worries me is that I know in recent times there's been events where the police have had to attend and they're ridiculing those police officers because of the death of Andrew.

'We have to live knowing these things happen now, and my concern is for the mental health of officers who will still have to go up there and some were friends of Andrew who saw the absolute devastation that his body endured.

'My worry is if this reopens on the same site, it's brushing it aside. Anybody who thinks they know how bad it was, think again. It was an awful lot worse than you actually realise.

'I know every detail that I can possibly know and I worry for other police officers, for their mental health and whether they're going to have a suicide on their hands because of the reopening of this site.'

So far at least 20 local residents in Burghfield have submitted objections to West Berkshire Council over the plans.

They include PC Harper's uncle, Paul Shrimpton, who wrote: 'It's a stone's throw away from where he drew his last breath. To even think of re-opening the site so close is abhorrent and utterly disrespectful.

'This is the ONLY place that we as his family can go to feel close to him, and the things placed there as a memorial are precious.

'Reopening this site places them, the location, and our ability to feel we are with him at serious risk. Out of respect for Andrew, his family (for whom this will never go away) and all those in the local community who felt the pain of his loss so deeply, please stop this plan immediately, and declare this site permanently closed down.'

Councillor Ross Mackinnon, Conservative Group Leader and Leader of the Opposition, accused the Liberal Democrat-run West Berkshire Council executive of trying to fulfil their obligation of having a fixed number of permanent traveller pitches by rushing these plans through without proper public consultation.

He said locals are now considering asking the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, to intervene and block the planning application and urge West Berkshire Council to find alternative accommodation for travellers within the district.

Cllr Mackinnon told MailOnline: ' I think it's absurd that West Berkshire Council are planning on spending approximately £5 million of council taxpayers' money refurbishing and reinstating a travellers' site linked to the murder of PC Andrew Harper.

'The killers, who showed such a callous disregard for PC Harper's life as they dragged him for over a mile over country lanes took refuge at the site burning evidence before being arrested. They laughed and joked during their trial, and none of the residents of the travellers' site ever assisted the police in their enquiries.

'After the investigation, West Berkshire Council discovered that the site was in a filthy and dilapidated state, with extensive contamination from human and industrial waste.

'Now the Council wants to refurbish and improve the site before reinstating the travellers – to the shock and uproar of local residents, who say it is an affront to the memory of PC Harper and will lead to a return of crime and antisocial behaviour that used to emanate from the site before it was closed.'

One local, who declined to give his name, told MailOnline how travellers on the old site threatened to torch the homes of those who crossed them and indulged in smash and garb robberies locally. They also regularly smashed bus windows armed with slingshots.

He said: 'My view is that this redevelopment shouldn't be going ahead. It's been empty for three years so what is the point of decontaminating the site, clearing it and rehoming all the former residents only to spend a fortune building a new, polished site for them to move back onto? They're already in decent social housing, think of what good that sort of money could do in helping people who are homeless.

'When the killers are released, who's to say that they're not going to set up home there on a new, refurbished, modern site? They'll still know people there. PC Harper never got to go home, it doesn't seem right. The land should stay as it is, just leave nature to take it back so it becomes common land again.'