The ringleader of an armed robbery that ended in the killing of police officer Sharon Beshenivsky has been found guilty of her murder.
The conviction of Piran Ditta Khan comes almost two decades after PC Beshenivsky was fatally shot outside a travel agents in Bradford.
PC Sharon Beshenivsky and her colleague PC Teresa Milburn were both shot at point-blank range
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The 75-year-old flew to Pakistan two months after PC Beshenivsky’s death and remained at large there until his arrest by Pakistani authorities four years ago.
Prosecutors said the former takeaway owner was the robbery gang’s ringleader.
Although he remained inside one of the getaway cars during the raid, the Crown said he played a “pivotal” role in planning the crime and knew that loaded firearms were to be used.
Jurors were told this made him guilty of PC Beshenivsky’s murder “as surely as if he had pulled the trigger on that pistol himself”.
He was the only one of the group who was familiar with the travel agents, Universal Express and had used them in the past to send money to family in Pakistan.
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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 in Bradford
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Khan told jurors he had no knowledge that a robbery was going to be carried out, or that weapons were going to be taken.
He claimed the business’s owner owed him £12,000 and that a debt collector offered to get his money back after the pair met through a business associate.
Khan said he thought the men the debt collector sent would “intimidate” the staff at Universal Express, or at worst, “slap them”.
Prosecutor Robert Smith KC said Khan’s claim of being defrauded was an “entirely false” attempt to explain why he was in Bradford at the time of the robbery and murder.
The day before the robbery, Khan travelled up to a “safe house” in Leeds.
The safe at the Universal Express travel agents in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Piran Ditta Khan has been found guilty at Leeds Crown Court of the murder of the 38 year-old police constable, who was shot during an armed robbery in Bradford in 2005
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Francois Baron, who was working on renovating the house, told police he had heard the robbers discussing the plot in one of the bedrooms.
Baron said he heard gunman Muzzaker Shah asking Khan: “Uncle, is it safe?” Khan was said to have replied: “Yes, it’s safe. Genuine.”
Jurors heard Shah asked: “How much can we get?” and Khan replied: “Minimum £50,000, maximum target 100 grand.”
The group were said to be “elated” and “confident,” shouting: “Let’s go do it.”
In three cars, the group then drove in convoy to Bradford, where Muzzaker Shah and brothers Yusuf Jama and Mustaf Jama went into the travel agents posing as customers.
After initially asking about plane tickets, the three men jumped over the counter and started demanding money, striking several of the staff with their weapons, tying their hands and threatening to “shoot the youngest” if they did not hand over cash.
The owner’s son managed to press an alarm which alerted the police.
PC Beshenivsky and PC Milburn, who were about to finish their shift, responded to the alert, the trial was told.
The robbers shouted “the Feds are here” before fleeing with around £5,400, with one of them gunning down the officers as they approached the doors of Universal Express.
PC Beshenivsky, 38, who had three children and two step-children, had only been an officer for nine months when she died from her injuries.
PC Milburn, who survived being shot in the chest, told police the pair “didn’t have a chance” to get away from the gunman.
Khan was convicted of murder by a majority of 10-1 after 11 jurors deliberated for almost 19 hours over four days.
