Sharon Beshenivsky23 ‘didn’t have a chance’
Injured colleague tells court of PC’s fatal shooting in raid
UNARMED officer Sharon Beshenivsky was shot without warning at point blank, her injured colleague told a court.
The 38-year-old mum and PC Teresa Milburn were both hit as they interrupted a robbery at a travel agent in November 2005.
PC Milburn’s statement was read to a jury yesterday. She said: “We offered them no force, we did not have time to draw our batons or CS gas and we were otherwise unarmed.
“We didn’t have a chance, if he’d waved the gun at us and given us some warning, we would have just gone. There was no indication that he had a gun, it was just ‘bang bang’. Sharon stopped in terror. The man had no need to shoot us, none whatsoever.
“If he had waved that gun we’d have run off up the road.”
Takeaway boss Piran Ditta Khan, 75, is on trial at Leeds crown court. It is alleged he masterminded the robbery at Universal Express in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
He denies murder and firearms offences.
Both officers were shot at point blank 30 seconds after arriving. PC Milburn said a call came through to assist with a personal attack alarm.
PC Milburn, who was in a patrol car with PC Beshenvisky, said they had no obligation to attend and believed it was a false activation. But after four calls they went to the shop. Street wardens told them: “There’s something not right, the doors are locked.”
PC Milburn said: “I could see two men panicking, trying to get out of the premises. They were struggling with the door as if it wouldn’t open.
“Sharon walked in front and I followed. I didn’t have a chance to stop Sharon or say anything to her.”
As they got to the doorway, PC Beshenivsky stopped and there was an “almighty bang”. PC Milburn went on: “Her body dropped and her knees went to the left as she collapsed.”
The court heard PC Milburn saw one man move his arm until she could see the end of his pistol.
She said: “I heard another loud bang and felt immense pain. I knew straight away I had been shot. The force of the second shot spun me round.”
PC Milburn said she staggered on to the street and pressed her radio’s panic button. “I collapsed on the floor, my knees buckled.”
She added: “I closed my eyes and felt cold, my body was shaking. I felt like going to sleep and giving in.
“The next thing I remember is the weight of all the jackets thrown on top of me.”
She was told the first ambulance went straight to Sharon: “I knew then that Sharon was in a bad way.”
The trial continues.
If he had warned us he had a gun we’d have run off up the road
PC TERESA MILBURN ON ROBBERY SHOOTING