Officer Sharon Beshenivsky had only been a police officer for nine months when she responded to a call from a travel agency in Bradford on the afternoon of November 18, 2005.

“[We] No chance,” said colleague Teresa Milburn, 37, who was a few steps behind as they arrived unarmed at the Global Express in Morley Street.

PC Beshenivsky, 38, “stopped in horror” when she saw the gunman as she approached the door and was shot in the chest at close range before falling to the floor, instantly fatally wounded.

The robber then pointed a gun at Officer Milburn, who “felt tremendous pain and knew immediately that I had been shot,” she said. “The force of the second shot spun me around. The force was unbelievable.”

As she lay on the pavement in “extreme pain” and coughing up blood, she managed to radio for help, but an ambulance arrived too late to save her colleagues.

west york PC Beshenivsky, the seventh female police officer to die in the line of duty in the UK, was shot dead on her daughter Lydia’s fourth birthday, leaving behind her husband Paul, three children and two stepchildren .

The country came to a standstill for her funeral, with hundreds of police lining the route of the funeral procession.

The mastermind of the armed robbery, 75-year-old Piran Ditta Khan, flew to Pakistan three months after PC Beshenivsky’s death and remained free until he was arrested by Pakistani authorities in January 2020. extradited to uk last year.

He admitted robbery and had Now convicted of murderFollowing a trial at Leeds Crown Court, they were charged with two counts of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possessing a prohibited weapon.

Khan was the seventh and final member of the gang to be convicted in connection with the botched robbery.

‘uncle’

Khan, known as “uncle” to his associates, told them they would receive a bonus of between £50,000 and £100,000 as they partied over champagne and vodka in a safe house the night before the attack.

Prosecutors said he played a “key” role in the scheme and had previously used Global Express to send money to his brother in Pakistan.

He did not leave the security of the Mercedes SLK, said to be used as a lookout car, as three men, dressed appropriately to avoid suspicion, entered the travel agency through electronic doors.

Prosecutors said one of them was carrying a laptop bag that contained at least a loaded handgun and a machine gun, as well as a large knife and cables used to bind workers.

They discussed plane tickets, then a robber jumped on the counter with a gun and the people inside were tied into an office where they were told to lie on the floor with their hands tied as the robber demanded money.

Aqeel Yousaf, one of the three sons of shop owner Mohammad Yousaf, heard one of the intruders say: “I don’t think these people are serious enough. We’d better shoot them.” One of them, and then they might give us some money.”

“The Fed is coming”

Waqas Yousaf, who now owns the company, hit the panic button during the robbery, causing police to be called. Aqeel Yousaf said he heard one of the men say: “The FBI is coming.”

“I heard the metal door open. I heard gunshots and screams,” he said.

“I remember the gunshot, and a short time later I heard the gunshots going off almost simultaneously.”

Prosecutor Robert Smith said there was “no valid threat posed to the three men” when two unarmed police officers arrived at the scene.

“There was no need for this man to shoot at us, no need at all,” Sergeant Milburn said in a statement.

“If he had brandished that gun, I would have run down that road and so would Sharon, but we had no chance.”

The robbers made off with about £5,400.

Three jailed for murder

In 2006, Muzzaker Shah and Yusuf Jama were sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 35 years for the murder of PC Beshenivsky, robbery and firearms offences.

Shah admitted murder but denied shooting Officer Besheniewski, while Jama was found guilty of murder after telling the court he accidentally shot the officer.

Faisal Razak was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 11 years.

A year later, in 2007, his brother Hassan Razzaq was also found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Raza ul Haq Aslam, then 26 and a former lookout, was jailed for eight years after being found guilty of robbery.

Yusuf Jama’s brother, Mustaf Jama, was extradited from Somalia in 2007 and convicted of murder. He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 35 years.