Andy Burnham says he is "confident" PC Andrew Harper's killers can be excluded from the government's early release scheme, as outcry over the case grows. The prime minister has now ordered the justice secretary to find a way to bar Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were jailed for 13 years for manslaughter in 2020, from early release. The move comes after days of pressure to exclude Harper's killers from the scheme, which is aiming to free about 5,000 offenders in England and Wales to make space in overcrowded jails. But on Tuesday, Burnham insisted he had never accepted "there was nothing more that could be done" to prevent the early release of more offenders, including Harper's killers. Burnham said he would seek to hold talks with other political parties to build "consensus" on the approach to early releases.