Yes I think it is just manslaughter, I doubt they set out to snare a police officer and drag him along the road to his death. They were three lads out on the rob and it went seriously wrong. The sentences given may be fair enough with me providing that was a minimum term and they could demonstrate remorse at the end of the sentence. But with early release they will probably be out in 6 or 7 years and that would be far too soon in my book.
The bigger question here for me is should there be harsher sentences for killing a police officer. If the lads had got away from the police and had killed another road user as they sped away at high speed, would that have been somehow a lesser crime?
I see the argument as a deterrent against harming police officers, but then it is a job that carries inherent risks, surely any deterrent sentencing needs at least to protect everyone who is simply going about their lawful business equally.
We need more police and harsher penalties, we have been trying this namby pamby experiment for many decades now and crime is getting worse, its time we went the other way.