A 75-year-old man, Piran Ditta Khan, has been found guilty of murder for planning an armed robbery that resulted in the killing of police officer PC Sharon Beshenivsky almost two decades ago in Bradford. Khan was extradited from Pakistan in 2023 and was the last of seven men involved to face trial. Although he admitted to robbery, he denied murder. However, he has now been found guilty of the crime as well as two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon.
PC Beshenivsky was shot dead on November 18, 2005, on her youngest daughter’s fourth birthday, while responding to a robbery at a travel agency in Bradford. Three armed men involved in the robbery shot both officers as they approached the business. PC Beshenivsky’s injuries were instantly fatal, and her colleague PC Teresa Milburn was seriously injured.
Six people were arrested and convicted of charges that included murder and manslaughter, with Khan being the seventh and final individual to face trial. At Leeds Crown Court, jurors were informed that Khan was the mastermind behind the robbery and played a “pivotal role in planning the raid and giving instructions to the others.” During the trial, Khan claimed that he was waiting in a car and “eating sandwiches” with another individual named Hassan Razzaq while the raid was being perpetrated.
Khan had spent approximately two decades evading justice in Pakistan before being arrested by Pakistani authorities in 2020. He was extradited to the UK to stand trial in 2022. The six other individuals were previously sentenced in relation to PC Beshenivsky’s death
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