THE WIDOW of Oxfordshire police officer PC Harper, who was dragged to his death behind a car while attempting to stop a crime, said she was "horrified" that they received £465,000 in legal aid.

Lissie Harper, said she was appalled at the figure used for "defending the indefensible".

The Legal Aid bill, which paid for the killers' barrister, was revealed by the Daily Mail.

Newlywed PC Harper, from Wallingford, was attempting to prevent the theft of a quad bike from a house in Berkshire when he was killed. He suffered horrendous injuries when he got caught in a strap trailing behind a getaway vehicle last August.

Three teenagers, Henry Long, 19, and 18-year-olds Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers were acquitted of his murder but sentenced for the Abingdon-based officer's manslaughter.

Mrs Harper, who had been married to her 28-year-old husband for just four weeks before he was killed, criticised the Legal Aid bill, saying: "This just doesn't seem right or fair.

"Not only did we not get justice for Andrew, we now know the cost of that injustice.

"I am sure the public - whose support for me has been unstinting - will be as horrified as I am to know how much money is going towards paying this trio's escalating legal costs.

Read more: Tributes paid to PC Harper on anniversary of his death

Mrs Harper is campaigning for her so-called Harper's Law to ensure those who kill emergency workers on duty get life imprisonment.

She said the news had made her "more determined than ever to keep on fighting for Harper's Law, which would mean these despicable criminals are jailed for life".

Bowers and Cole last week lodged applications with the Court of Appeal seeking permission to challenge their convictions and their 13-year prison sentences.

They were sentenced alongside Long, 19, who was given a 16-year prison sentence.