Sharon Beshenivsky murder trial: Jury retires in trial of man accused of murdering Yorkshire PC by planning armed robbery

A jury has retired to consider verdicts in the trial of a man accused of murdering a police officer by planning the armed robbery in which she was killed.
By Katie Dickinson, PA
Published 27th Mar 2024, 16:50 BST

Piran Ditta Khan is alleged to be the mastermind behind a raid at family-run Universal Express travel agents in November 2005. Pc Sharon Beshenivsky, 38, was shot on her youngest daughter's fourth birthday as she arrived at the robbery on Morley Street, Bradford. She died from her injuries.

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 fled the scene with around £5,400 in cash. Prosecutors claim Khan, 75, was the group's ringleader and played a "pivotal" role in planning the raid and giving instructions to the others.

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They say this makes him guilty of Pc Beshenivsky's murder "as surely as if he had pulled the trigger himself". Jurors have heard Khan was in a lookout car eating sandwiches with another of the robbers, Hassan Razzaq, while the raid was being carried out.

Court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook of Piran Ditta Khan appearing at Leeds Crown Court charged with the 2005 murder of Police Constable Sharon Beshenivsky (right).Court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook of Piran Ditta Khan appearing at Leeds Crown Court charged with the 2005 murder of Police Constable Sharon Beshenivsky (right).
Court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook of Piran Ditta Khan appearing at Leeds Crown Court charged with the 2005 murder of Police Constable Sharon Beshenivsky (right).

Prosecutors say he was the only one of the group who was familiar with Universal Express and had been using the business for years to transfer money to family in Pakistan. Khan denies knowing that a robbery was going to be committed, or that weapons were going to be taken to Universal Express that day.

He has claimed the motive for the robbery was that the business's owner, Mohammad Yousaf, owed him £12,000, and that debt collector Razzaq offered to get his money back when the pair met through a business associate.

Khan told Leeds Crown Court he thought the men Razzaq sent would simply "intimidate" the staff or, at most, "slap" them.

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The judge, Mr Justice Hilliard, told jurors the defendant would be guilty of murder if they were sure he "intentionally encouraged the primary robbers to take part (...) and intended serious harm should be caused, if necessary, to carry out the robbery and escape with the proceeds".

He sent the jury out to consider its verdicts at just before 3.30pm on Wednesday. The court has heard Khan is the last of the seven men involved in the robbery to face trial.

He flew to Pakistan two months after Pc Beshenivsky's death and remained there before being arrested by Pakistani authorities in 2020 and extradited to the UK last year, jurors were told. The other members of the group have been convicted of offences including murder, manslaughter, robbery and firearms offences.

Khan denies murder, two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon. He has pleaded guilty to robbery, telling his trial this was because the armed men had gone for his money and "it was my mistake to tell them".