PC Sharon Beshenivsky death: Man extradited and charged with murder

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

A 74-year-old man is due to appear in court later charged with the 2005 murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky after being extradited from Pakistan.

Piran Ditta Khan was brought back to the UK and taken into custody at a West Yorkshire police station, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

PC Beshenivsky, 38, had been an officer for nine months when she was fatally shot in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

Mr Khan is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

West Yorkshire Police said he has been charged with murder, robbery, two counts of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possessing a prohibited weapon.

The CPS said the charges were authorised in 2006, leading to the issuing of the extradition warrant.

"Since Piran Ditta Khan was arrested in Pakistan in 2020, our specialist prosecutors have been working closely with our Pakistani partners to complete the legal process in the country so that he could be extradited back to England to face the allegations from almost 20 years ago," a spokesperson added.

PC Beshenivsky, a mother of three and stepmother of two children, was shot as she responded with colleague PC Teresa Milburn to an alarm at a travel agent in Morley Street, Bradford, on 18 November 2005.

PC Milburn was also shot but survived.