Man accused of PC Sharon Beshenivsky's murder tells Leeds court he 'did not know guns were used in robbery'

Piran Ditta Khan said it was “the worst news” when he found out PC Sharon Beshenivsky, of West Yorkshire Police, had been killed as she interrupted the robbery at Universal Express in Bradford in November 2005.

Khan, 75, told jurors that the owner of the travel agents, Mohammad Yousaf, owed him £12,000 and that a business acquaintance, Hassan Razzaq, had offered “to get his money back”.

The defendant said he thought the men Razzaq sent to get the money would “intimidate” the staff at Universal Express and that “maximum… they would probably slap him”.

Asked by his barrister, Peter Wright KC, if he knew that the three men who carried out the robbery had taken firearms with them, Khan said he “was not aware of anything”.

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“Yousaf owes me money, not the police. Why did they kill the police? Why did they take a gun there in the first place?” he said.

Asked if he intended anyone to be killed or seriously harmed, the defendant replied: “A human value is not £12,000.”

He added it was “not my way to do things”.

Khan said he had pleaded guilty to robbing Mr Yousaf because “they went there for my money”.

Jurors heard that while three men – Muzzaker Shah and brothers Mustaf Jama and Yusuf Jama – were carrying out the robbery, Khan and Razzaq sat in a Mercedes SLK nearby.

Khan said one member of the group told him afterwards that “Shah and those Somalians – they have shot the police officers”.

He told the court: “I was panicking after what they had done. It was very painful and shameful as to what they had done. It was the worst news. A normal human being cannot do a thing like this. There was no need to shoot a police officer.”

Jurors have heard unarmed PC Beshenivsky and her colleague PC Teresa Milburn were shot at point blank range by one of three men who had just carried out the robbery, with the gunman then firing indiscriminately as they fled the scene.

A total of seven men were involved in carrying out the raid, with alleged ringleader Khan the last to face trial almost two decades on.

Prosecutors say Khan was the only one of the group who was familiar with Universal Express after using the business to send money to family in Pakistan.

Khan denied having been to the firm’s premises on Morley Street until five days before the robbery, when Razzaq offered to take him.

He told jurors that Razzaq had “business up north” and told him: “If you come with me we’ll go to Bradford and you show me that place.”

The court heard that Khan, who was living in London at the time, travelled to Bradford with Razzaq and found out where Mr Yousaf’s business was after asking a waiter at a restaurant.

Khan has said he had used Mr Yousaf to transfer money to family in Pakistan since 1968, but that he and his nephew Mohammad Ishaque had “lost his trust” after £12,000 he gave them to send to his brother in Pakistan in 1996 was not transferred.

Khan told the court Razzaq had offered to “get his money back” after he told him the story of the missing money while on a business trip to Aberdeen.

The pair discussed Razzaq getting a third of the money once it was recovered, the court heard.

He said Razzaq drove him to Yorkshire the night before the robbery and that they stayed at a house in Leeds provided by Razzaq’s brother. Khan told the court he met the rest of the robbers there, and did not know any of them apart from Shah, who he said he did not like.

The court has heard that Khan travelled to Pakistan two months after the robbery and evaded arrest until he was detained by Pakistani authorities in 2020 and extradited to the UK last year.

Khan told the court he initially went to Pakistan for his son’s wedding but did not return after seeing news reports that he was a wanted man.

He said he felt “very bad, very nervous”, adding: “It was scary news. The issue started with me, with my money. I never did anything but somehow I got involved.”

Prosecutors say that although Khan did not leave the safety of a lookout car during the raid, he is guilty of PC Beshenivsky’s murder due to his “pivotal” role in planning the robbery knowing that loaded weapons were to be used.

PC Beshenivsky, 38, who had only been an officer for nine months, died from her injuries, while PC Milburn was shot in the chest and survived.

Khan denies murder, two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon.

The trial continues.