Killed in the line of duty: Andrew Harper the latest PC to lose his life on the front line

Killed on duty: (Top row l-r): Pc Sharon Beshenivsky, Pc Richard Gray, Pc Alison Armitage, Kirsty Nelis, (bottom row) Pc Nicola Hughes, Pc David Rathband, Pc David Phillips and Pc Keith Palmer are among the police officers who've lost their lives on the front line. (PA)
Killed on duty: (Top row l-r): Pc Sharon Beshenivsky, Pc Richard Gray, Pc Alison Armitage, Kirsty Nelis, (bottom row) Pc Nicola Hughes, Pc David Rathband, Pc David Phillips and Pc Keith Palmer are among the police officers who've lost their lives on the front line. (PA)

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.

PC Andrew Harper was killed while investigating a burglary in Berkshire (FACEBOOK)
PC Andrew Harper was killed while investigating a burglary in Berkshire (FACEBOOK)

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.

Floral tributes at the unveiling of a national memorial outside the Carriage Gates, at the Palace of Westminster, in memory of Pc Keith Palmer, who was killed during a terrorist incident in Westminster in 2017.
Floral tributes at a national memorial outside the Carriage Gates, at the Palace of Westminster, in memory of Pc Keith Palmer (GETTY)

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.

Pc Neil Roper (fifth right) lines-up with fellow Police officers as the coffin of their colleague Pc Ian Broadhurst is carried during a funeral service at Leeds Parish Church in Kirkgate, West Yorkshire. Pc Roper survived the incident in which Pc Broadhurst, 34, from Birkenshaw, West Yorkshire, was shot twice while helping to arrest American David Bieber in Dibb Lane, Leeds, on Boxing Day.  2/12/04: Former US Marine David Bieber, a bouncer and steroid abuser who is wanted in the US for a murder plot, was found guilty at Newcastle Crown Court of the murder of PC Broadhurst and also convicted  of the attempted murders of two of Pc Broadhurst's colleagues.
Pc Ian Broadhurst was shot twice while helping to arrest American David Bieber in Dibb Lane, Leeds, on Boxing Day 2004 (PA)
Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes (Greater Manchester Police/PA)
Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes (Greater Manchester Police/PA)

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.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Condon (left) stands with Liz Blakelock (glasses), the mother of murdered policeman Keith Blakelock, as they witness a wreath being layed at his memorial in Muswell Hill in London, on the 10th anniversary of the Bridgewater Farm riots, in which Pc Blakelock was killed.  Standing beside Mrs Blakelock is Peggy Spinlaw, who tends the memorial regularly.   (Photo by Louisa Buller - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)
Then Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Condon (left) stands with Liz Blakelock (glasses), the mother of murdered policeman Keith Blakelock, at his funeral in 1985 (GETTY)
Det Con Stephen Oake (Greater Manchester Police/PA)
Det Con Stephen Oake (Greater Manchester Police/PA)

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.

The coffin leaving Lichfield Cathedral after the funeral service of Det Con Michael Swindells, Lichfield,. The former Royal Engineers lance corporal from Burton-on-Trent, Staffs, died in hospital on May 21 from a single stab wound to the abdomen after being attacked in the Nechells area of Birmingham.   (Photo by Rui Vieira - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)
Det Con Michael Swindells died in hospital from a single stab wound to the abdomen after being attacked in the Nechells area of Birmingham (GETTY)

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.