Sharon Beshenivsky: Gang who killed PC shouted 'Feds are here'

Piran Ditta Khan is on trial at Leeds Crown Court

A gang shouted "the Feds are here" before shooting a police officer during an armed robbery at a travel agents, a court has heard.

PC Sharon Beshenivsky was killed as she and a colleague responded to reports of a robbery in Bradford in November 2005.

Leeds Crown Court has heard a total of seven men were involved in carrying out the raid.

Alleged ringleader Piran Ditta Khan, 75, is the last to face trial and denies murder and firearm offences.

He was extradited from Pakistan after almost two decades in 2023.

PC Beshenivsky was 38 when she was killed outside Universal Express travel agent in Morley Street.

She had only been an officer for nine months when she was shot in the chest at point blank range by one of the three men fleeing the scene of the robbery on 18 November 2005.

Her colleague PC Teresa Milburn was also injured but survived.

Sharon Beshenivsky was 38 when she was killed outside the travel agent in Morley Street

The travel agency was owned at the time by Mohammad Yousaf.

His son Waqas, who now own the business, told the court he had pushed a panic button during the robbery calling the officers to the scene.

His brother Aqeel Yousaf said he had let the three robbers into the office through an electronic door and was discussing airline tickets before one of the men jumped onto the counter holding a gun.

He said the three men "bundled" his father, brothers, their uncle and a friend into an office and "shoved" them to the floor and tied their hands while demanding money.

"I felt something very hard strike me on the side of my temple and I lost consciousness," he added.

At one point, Mr Yousaf said he heard one of the men say "the Feds are here".

"I heard the metal doors opening. I heard what sounded like a gunshot and I heard a scream," he said.

"I remember that one shot and then I heard a short time after that almost simultaneous shots being fired. I can't say whether it was two, three, four."

Piran Ditta Khan denies murder and firearms offences

Faris Khokhar, the youngest brother, told the court the robbers initially demanded £100,000, later asking for £50,000.

"I told them 'the money's been banked, whatever we have is in that drawer'."

Prosecutors have said Mr Khan told the gang they would get between £50,000 and £100,000 from the robbery, but the amount stolen was about £5,400.

Prosecutor Robert Smith KC has argued that while the defendant remained in a car during the robbery he is guilty of PC Beshenivsky's murder because of his "pivotal" role in planning the raid, knowing that loaded weapons were to be used.

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

The trial continues.

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]