Man accused of murdering police officer evaded arrest for nearly 20 years, court told

The mastermind of an armed robbery in which a police officer was killed and another seriously injured evaded capture for almost 20 years before being extradited from Pakistan, a court heard yesterday.

- Josh Halliday

PC Sharon Beshenivsky was murdered when she and her colleague PC Teresa Milburn responded to a report of a robbery at the Universal Express travel agency in Bradford, West Yorkshire, on 18 November 2005.

The officers were shot at "almost point-blank range" when three men burst out of the premises, one "firing indiscriminately" as they fled, a jury was told yesterday.

Beshenivsky, 38, who had been an officer for only nine months, died on the pavement after being shot through the heart, Leeds Crown Court was told. Milburn survived despite serious injuries.

Robert Smith KC, prosecuting, told the jury that seven men were involved in the robbery and had all been convicted "with one exception ... His name, as you have heard, is Piran Ditta Khan."

Smith said Khan had evaded arrest by fleeing to Islamabad, Pakistan, two months after the murder. He was eventually tracked down by police and extradited to the UK in April last year, the court was told.

Khan, now 75, listened to the proceedings with the help of an interpreter as the prosecutor outlined the case against him.