Killed in the line of duty: Andrew Harper the latest PC to lose his life on the front line
Pc Andrew Harper, the newlywed policeman killed while responding to a suspected burglary, is the latest officer to tragically lose his life while carrying out police duties.
Pc Andrew Harper, who was killed on Thursday evening near Sulhamstead in Berkshire, joins a long list of colleagues killed in the line of duty.
It comes a week after PC Stuart Outten was attacked with a machete while carrying out a routine van check in Leyton, east London.
A National Police Memorial roll of honour in London lists all officers who have been killed by criminal acts during active service since 1680.
The memorial lists more than 1,600 officers who have died while performing vital tasks.
Those that lost their lives did so while performing a range of duties, including apprehending terrorists, quelling rioters and marshalling protests.
One hero listed is PC Keith Palmer, who was stabbed in March 2017 by Khalid Masood during the Westminster Bridge terror attack. He was posthumously awarded the George Medal.
In April 2009, PC Gary Toms, 37, was critically injured confronting suspects in Leyton, east London, but died six days later when his life support machine was switched off.
Also included are three unarmed Metropolitan Police officers murdered in Shepherd’s Bush by Harry Roberts in 1966.
Detective Sergeant Christopher Head, 30, Detective Constable David Wombwell, 25, and Pc Geoffrey Fox, 41, were shot without warning while questioning three suspects in a van.
Detective Constable Michael Swindells, 44, died after he was knifed in the stomach as he and colleagues conducted a search in Birmingham in May 2004.
Detective Constable Stephen Oake died during a police raid on a flat in Crumpsall, Manchester, in January 2003.
Kamel Bourgass launched a frenzied knife attack on the Special Branch officer as he tried to escape. The Algerian was sentenced to life for his murder.
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Det Con Oake’s bravery not only saved the lives of several colleagues but potentially hundreds of people who Bourgass was plotting to kill with the poison ricin.
Another name on the roll is Pc Keith Blakelock, a 40-year-old father of three who was set on by a mob and hacked to death with a machete during the Broadwater Farm riots in 1985.
Winston Silcott, along with two other men, was found guilty of his murder but in 1991 their convictions were overturned on appeal because of “unsafe” police evidence.
Pc Ian Broadhurst, 34, of West Yorkshire Police, was murdered by American bodybuilder David Bieber, 38, in Leeds on Boxing Day 2003. Bieber also shot two of Pc Broadhurst’s colleagues.
Bieber, who was wanted by the FBI for ordering two killings in Florida, was subsequently jailed for life.
Pc Alison Armitage, 29, was run down by a stolen car in March 2001. She died during an undercover operation in Hollinwood, near Oldham, Greater Manchester. She was run over twice by a driver in a stolen vehicle in the car park of a derelict pub.
In October 1997, Pc Nina Mackay was stabbed to death in a raid in Stratford, east London, by paranoid schizophrenic Magdi Elgizouli.
Police officers also find themselves in danger when they are off duty. Father-of-two Pc Ian Dibell, 41, was off work with a hand injury when he was killed near his home in Clacton in July 2012.
He had gone to help a member of the public who had been injured in a gun attack and was shot himself.