Sharon Beshenivsky had been a PC for less than a year before she was fatally shot in Bradford in November 2005
By Julia Bryson & Emma Glasbey
BBC News
A man has been found guilty of murdering a police officer by planning the armed robbery in which she was shot dead almost 20 years ago.
Piran Ditta Khan, 75, spent nearly two decades evading justice for his part in the killing of PC Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford on 18 November 2005.
Khan, who was extradited from Pakistan last year, was the last of seven men involved in the robbery to face trial.
He had previously admitted robbery but denied the officer’s murder.
At Leeds Crown Court on Thursday, Khan was also found guilty of two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon.
Piran Ditta Khan fled to Pakistan after PC Beshenivsky’s murder in 2005, but was extradited in 2023
PC Beshenivsky, 38, was gunned down on her youngest daughter’s fourth birthday as she arrived at the scene of robbery at a travel agents in the city centre.
Shot at close range and left lying on the pavement, her injuries were instantly fatal.
Her colleague PC Teresa Milburn was seriously injured after being shot by the gunman – one of three armed men who had just carried out the robbery and who fled with around £5,400 in cash.
Jurors were told Khan was the the mastermind behind the robbery and played a “pivotal role in planning the raid and giving instructions to the others”.
Prosecutors said this made him guilty of PC Beshenivsky’s murder “as surely as if he had pulled the trigger on that pistol himself”.
Leeds Crown Court heard how Khan spent almost two decades evading justice having escaped to Pakistan shortly after PC Beshenivsky’s death.
He remained there before being arrested by Pakistani authorities in 2020 and was extradited to the UK to face justice last year.
Over the years, the other members of group have been convicted of offences including murder, manslaughter, robbery and firearms offences.
