Cole and Bowers were sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter in 2020. Under changes to the Sentencing Act made this year, they will become eligible for release from custody next January.
They are in a category of prisoners – those who have committed certain serious violent or sexual crimes – who until now would have had to serve at least two-thirds of their sentence in jail before being considered for release.
Downing Street had earlier warned it would not be possible to exclude “one or two offenders” convicted of manslaughter from the early release scheme.
However, the has been told that Burnham has now instructed his justice secretary to find a way to exclude Cole and Bowers from the scheme designed to ease prison overcrowding.
In a later statement, the PM said he was “increasingly confident” that work to increase space in the prison system “will allow us to reduce the number of people released early”.
He added: “And, in the case of the most serious offenders like those convicted of the killing of PC [Andrew] Harper, prevent their early release altogether.”
Adlam said the conflicting reports had been making her “more and more angry” and the uncertainty had left her family “in turmoil”.
Of the phone call she received, she said. “I think the fact it’s actually come from Downing Street, I’ve got to try and have some faith in it, but at the same time I’ve got to protect my own feelings.”
Thames Valley Police officer PC Harper, 28, from Wallingford, Oxfordshire, died in 2019 when he was dragged behind the getaway car of three teenagers who had fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Berkshire.
Adlam said: “Everybody is watching this. This is obviously extremely personal to us but it’s to do with the country as a whole really. This is really vital to get right, it feels like a hash, like a rush job.”
Speaking about Cole and Bowers, she added: “They weren’t given extreme sentences and I’m only asking for them to do what they were given, I’m not asking for anything more than they were sentenced.”