PC Sharon Beshenivsky: Murder suspect spent two decades in Pakistan

PC Sharon Beshenivsky was shot dead while responding to reports of a robbery in Bradford in 2005

The man accused of murdering PC Sharon Beshenivsky evaded capture for almost 20 years, prosecutors have said.

The officer was killed in Bradford on 18 November 2005 as she and a colleague responded to reports of a robbery.

She and PC Teresa Milburn were shot at by one of three men, Leeds Crown Court was told.

Piran Ditta Khan, 75, who was extradited from Pakistan last year, denies murder and four firearm offences.

PC Beshenivsky was 38 when she was killed outside Universal Express, in Morley Street, Bradford.

Prosecutor Robert Smith KC said she and PC Teresa Milburn were shot at "indiscriminately" by the shooter as he fled the scene of the robbery.

He said the officers were unarmed and "neither presented any effective threat" to the robbers.

"After this man shot Sharon Beshenivsky, Teresa Milburn saw him move his pistol towards her.

"She heard a bang and felt immense pain. She knew immediately she had been shot."

PC Beshenivsky's injury was immediately fatal.

Piran Ditta Khan, 75, is on trial at Leeds Crown Court after being extradited from Pakistan last year

Mr Smith said a total of seven men were involved in the robbery of the travel agents, all of whom have since been convicted except Mr Khan.

He had flown to Pakistan three months after PC Beshenivsky's death and remained there until his arrest in 2020 and subsequent extradition to the UK.

Mr Smith said although Mr Khan did not shoot the officers and was not one of the three men who carried out the robbery he "was responsible for organising" it knowing "loaded firearms were to be carried".

He said although Mr Khan remained in a car during the robbery "the part he played was such that the prosecution contend he is also guilty of the murder of Sharon Beshenivsky".

Universal Express also provided a service for people living and working in the UK to transfer money to the bank accounts of relatives in Pakistan.

Mr Smith said Mr Khan, who lived in Ilford, north London, had used this service before and was "the only one amongst the group that knew the location of the business and the interior of the premises in question".

The court also heard he would have been aware that cash was kept on the premises.

Mr Smith said the men assembled at a house in Leeds on the morning of the robbery, and a witness overheard one of them asking the defendant how much money they could expect to get.

The witness heard the defendant state they would get a minimum of £50,000 and a maximum of £100,000, Mr Smith said.

The court heard the other men involved in the robbery have since been convicted of offences including murder, manslaughter, robbery and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Mr Khan denies murder and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon.

The trial continues.