The scheme came under fire from victims’ families and survivors. These included the family of PC Andrew Harper whose killer faced being included as part of the early release scheme. It came after criticism of the scheme from survivors and victims’ families, including the widow of PC Andrew Harper who described the possibility of his killers’ early release as “deplorable”. “In West Mercia we are already seeing the impact on victims and policing. He added the Sentencing Act placed dubstantial risk back into the community and added further demand on policing to manage offenders.