Cuffed and in court, man accused over death of PC Sharon
THE alleged mastermind of a robbery that resulted in a British policewoman’s death appeared in court yesterday – 14 years on from PC Sharon Beshenivsky’s murder.
Piran Ditta Khan, 71, is now fighting attempts to extradite him to the UK following his arrest in Pakistan.
PC Beshenivsky, 38, was gunned down while responding to a raid on a travel agency in Bradford in 2005. She had been a police officer for just nine months.
Lawyers for Khan, who is thought to have been living 5,000 miles away in Pakistan for many years, intend to fight attempts to have him stand trial in the UK.
Speaking as he arrived at court in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, Khan said: ‘I want to tell you that I love Britain.’ Asked if he would apologise to PC Beshenivsky’s family, the former club doorman said: ‘I can’t really apologise because I haven’t done anything wrong.’
PC Beshenivsky, a mother of three, was shot dead and her colleague Teresa Milburn seriously injured as armed robbers fled the Universal Express travel agency in Bradford with £5,000 in November 2005. Both officers were unarmed.
Six men have been convicted and jailed for the robbery – three of them for murder – but Khan, the alleged mastermind of the gang, remained at large. This month a joint operation involving the National Crime Agency and the authorities in Pakistan led to Khan being arrested at a relative’s house in the capital.
His lawyer, Raja Ghaneem Aabar, said yesterday the court was expected to review Pakistani investigations before considering the extradition request. The proceedings are set to last months. Mr Aabar said
Khan had maintained his innocence. He said: ‘My client wants to be tried in Pakistan as he is a Pakistani citizen. My client can respond to any questions from British police via video link.’
The Crown Prosecution Service and West Yorkshire Police are determined to bring Khan back to the UK, where he lived before the murder, to stand trial.
But PC Beshenivsky’s widower Paul, 57, would be happy for Khan to face justice in Pakistan where prison conditions are far worse than in the UK. He said last week: ‘It would be better to see him in a Pakistani prison where he wouldn’t get treated as well as he would here.’
Khan, described as a martial arts expert, was a club doorman in Bradford during the 1980s. He was living with his wife and six children in north London at the time of the murder.