Fugitive denies murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky

A robber who fled to Pakistan after the killing of PC Sharon Beshenivsky 18 years ago has denied murder.

Piran Ditta Khan, 75, is accused of murdering PC Beshenivsky, 38, on 18 November 2005, when she was shot dead, while responding to a robbery at Universal Travel in Bradford.

Khan fled to Pakistan and a warrant was issued for his arrest in 2018 and he was later arrested in 2020.

He was extradited and arrived back in Britain in April.

Khan appeared in court today (fri) and denied murder, two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon.

One of the guns was a fully automatic MAC-10 sub-machine gun.

He admitted robbing Mohammed Yousaf of a quantity of cash.

Khan appeared in the dock at Leeds Crown Court assisted by a Punjabi interpreter and spoke to confirm his name.

Mr Justice Hilliard dealt with the case via video link from the Old Bailey.

A four to six week trial at Leeds Crown Court or another court in the North East circuit is set for 12 February.

Prosecutor Robert Smith earlier told the court: ‘On 18 November 2005 the offences in question were committed at Bradford and the defendant now has to stand trial in respect of the allegations made against him.

‘There followed a detailed police investigation which resulted ultimately in the arrest of a number of people and the seizure of  number of vehicles involved in the commission of these offences.

‘On 26 January 2006 the defendant left Britain and took a flight to Islamabad. He had at that time well established domestic and business connections in the United Kingdom and was a citizen of the United Kingdom.

‘The prosecution case is that the defendant was aware firearms were to be carried and ammunition was to be carried and these offences of robbery could not be committed without the use of firearms to intimidate staff.’

Married mother-of-three PC Beshenivsky was a probationer with only nine months service when she was killed.

Her colleague, PC Teresa Milburn was seriously injured.

In 2007, a 26-year-old man was convicted of killing Beshenivsky and jailed for 20 years.

Three other men had previously been sentenced to a total of more than 80 years in prison over the robbery.