Man extradited and charged with murder over death of PC Sharon Beshenivsky
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West Yorkshire police have taken a 74-year-old man into custody over the 2005 murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky.
PC Beshenivsky was 38-years-old when she was fatally shot in Bradford, West Yorkshire, just nine months after starting her job as a police officer.
The incident took place as PC Beshenivsky, mum of three and stepmother of two, responded with a colleague to an alarm at a travel agents on 18 November, 2005.
PC Teresa Millburn, who accompanied PC Beshenivsky on the call, also suffered serious injuries as a result of the shooting.
The year after the incident, murder and robbery charges were authorised against Piran Ditta Khan, who is now 74-years-old.
Khan was arrested by police in Pakistan in 2020, with the charges against him leading to the issuing of an extradition warrant.
Khan has now been extradited to the UK and was taken into custody at a West Yorkshire police station.
He is charged with murder, robbery, two counts of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possessing a prohibited weapon.
In a statement about the case, Chief Crown Prosecutor Joanne Jakymec said: "Since Piran Ditta Khan was arrested in Pakistan in 2020, our specialist prosecutors have been working closely with our Pakistani partners to complete the legal process in the country so that he could be extradited back to England to face the allegations from almost 20 years ago."
PC Beshenivsky was the seventh serving female officer who ever lost her life in the line of duty in Britain. She died on her daughter's fourth birthday.
Khan wasn't the only one connected to the police officer's death, as in 2006, two men, Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah and Yusuf Abdullah Jama, were sentenced to life in prison over the shooting.
Shah admitted murder, but denied being responsible for firing the shot which killed PC Beshenivsky. Jama was convicted after telling the court he shot the officer by accident.
A third man, Faisal Razzaq, was found guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 11 years.
In 2007, Faisal's brother, Hassan Razzaq, was also convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Yusuf Jama's brother, Mustaf Jama, was extradited from Somalia and sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 35 years behind bars after being found guilty of murder.
Khan has been remanded into custody to appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court today (13 April).
