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Andy Burnham has insisted new emergency measures to ease the prison overcrowding crisis will keep PC Andrew Harper’s killers behind bars. The Prime Minister said he “understands” the fury over the potential early release of Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers. In a move set to cause controversy, he said male prisoners could be transferred to female jails. Labour may also release prisoners jailed indefinitely.

And he revealed in a bombshell Facebook post: “I have spent recent days considering in depth all of the issues involved and the range of advice I have received. I have been pushing for further progress. I have not accepted that it is impossible to do more. As a result, I have asked the Justice Secretary to fast-track the development of a plan for presentation to Parliament early next month to create more headroom within the prison system.”

The Prime Minister said: “It will be based on a range of options including the three strands of further work I asked him to initiate last week: increasing the rate of removal of foreign national offenders from the prison estate to their country of origin; finding an early resolution to the long-running injustice of IPP sentences, which could allow for the release of lower-risk prisoners; and making greater use of the entire prison estate including using the female estate for male offenders.

“I am increasingly confident that a more focused approach along these lines 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.”

And Mr Burnham admitted the plan to release criminals early will still cause anguish for victims.

He said: “I am increasingly confident that a more focused approach along these lines 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.

“In advance of the Justice Secretary’s proposals being presented to Parliament, we will seek to engage other political parties in discussions with the aim of gaining the widest possible public and political consensus on the approach being taken.

“Murderers have always been exempt and our actions have already ensured that rapists, serious child sex offenders and those convicted of grooming offences will never be released early.

“And today I have shown a determination to go further. However, I recognise that, even with all these changes, there will be concerns from many victims about who will still be released early for other offences. I am doing all I can, but it is simply not possible to prevent all offenders from being released early without the prison system collapsing.”

Communities Secretary Angela Rayner told LBC that Justice Mr Norris will tell MPs what Labour’s plans are when the Commons returns after its summer break.

And it comes after PC Harper’s mother, Debbie Adlam, revealed Downing Street officials called her late on Monday night.

More than 900,000 people have signed a petition calling for Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers to remain in prison.

Ms Adlam said said: “I had an interview yesterday, and it obviously must have shown something because I then had a call from Downing Street quite late last night.

“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.”

Discussing the efforts to keep her son’s killers in jail, Ms Adlam said: “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.”