PC Sharon Beshenivsky: Murder accused never knew of guns, court hears

Piran Ditta Khan evaded arrest until he was detained by Pakistani authorities in 2020

A man accused of murdering a female police officer has said he did not know guns would be used in the raid which led to her death.

Piran Ditta Khan, 75, is alleged to have planned the 2005 robbery at Bradford's Universal Express where Sharon Beshenivsky was killed.

The West Yorkshire PC, who was 38, was shot as she interrupted the robbery.

Mr Khan, who admitted robbery at a hearing last year, denies murder and four firearms offences.

He told a trial at Leeds Crown Court it was "the worst news" when he found out PC Beshenivsky had been killed in the November raid.

Mr Khan previously told jurors the owner of the travel agents, Mohammad Yousaf, owed him £12,000 and that a business acquaintance, Hassan Razzaq, had offered "to get his money back".

The defendant said he thought men sent to get the money would "intimidate" shop staff and that "maximum... they would probably slap him".

PC Sharon Beshenivsky was 38 when she was shot dead outside Universal Express in Bradford

Asked by his barrister, Peter Wright KC, if he knew the three men who carried out the robbery had taken firearms with them, Mr Khan said he "was not aware of anything".

"Yousaf owes me money, not the police. Why did they kill the police? Why did they take a gun there in the first place?" he said.

Asked if he intended for anyone to be killed or seriously harmed, the defendant replied: "A human value is not £12,000."

He said it was "not my way to do things".

Mr Khan said he had pleaded guilty to robbing Mr Yousaf because "they went there for my money".

Jurors heard that while three men - Muzzaker Shah and brothers Mustaf Jama and Yusuf Jama - were carrying out the robbery, Mr Khan and Razzaq sat in a Mercedes SLK nearby.

Mr Khan said one of the group told him afterwards that "Shah and those Somalians - they have shot the police officers".

'No need to shoot'

He told the court: "I was panicking after what they had done. It was very painful and shameful as to what they had done.

"It was the worst news. A normal human being cannot do a thing like this.

"There was no need to shoot a police officer."

Unarmed PC Beshenivsky and her colleague PC Teresa Milburn were shot at point-blank range by one of three men who carried out the robbery.

PC Beshenivsky, who had only been an officer for nine months, died from her injuries, while PC Milburn was shot in the chest and survived.

PC Teresa Milburn survived the shooting

Mr Khan travelled to Pakistan two months after the robbery and evaded arrest until he was detained by Pakistani authorities in 2020 and extradited to the UK last year.

Prosecutors say that although he did not leave the safety of a lookout car during the raid, he is guilty of PC Beshenivsky's murder due to his "pivotal" role in planning the robbery knowing that loaded weapons were to be used.

The trial continues.

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The trial continues.