The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Murdered Pc’s daughter pays tribute as gang member jailed
THE daughter of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky, who was murdered during an armed robbery in Bradford, has described her mother as a hero who made “the ultimate sacrifice”.
The 38-year-old West Yorkshire officer was gunned down on her youngest daughter’s fourth birthday in November 2005 as she and colleague Pc Theresa Milburn were responded to reports of a raid at a travel agency.
Speaking as the final gang member was jailed for life for her mother’s murder, Lydia Beshenivsky described how every birthday served as a painful reminder of the void left in her life.
Piran Ditta Khan, 75, who fled to Pakistan after the killing and spent 15 years on the run before being extradited back to the UK, was jailed for life yesterday.
He was told he would have to spend a minimum of 40 years in prison before being considered for release, effectively meaning he will die in prison.
Leeds Crown Court heard how Khan had been the ringleader of the gang that carried out the armed robbery and was the last of seven men to be convicted in relation to the murder.
Prosecutors said that although Khan was eating sandwiches in a look-out car when the two officers were shot, he played a “pivotal” role in planning the raid and knew loaded weapons would be used. They said this made him guilty of Pc Beshenivsky’s murder “as surely as if he had pulled the trigger himself ”.
In a victim impact statement delivered at the sentencing hearing, Lydia said said she had a vague memory of a car arriving at her house during her birthday party and thought it was her mother arriving home.
“I later learnt it was the police coming to take my dad away. At that moment I had no idea where he was going. It did not concern me at that time as I was too busy playing and eating cake.”
Miss Beshenivsky said: “I remember asking when my mum was coming home and being confused about why she wasn’t coming home to see us.”
Paul Beshenivsky, who had been married to Pc Beshenivsky for four years when she died, said telling the children what had happened was “the hardest thing I have ever had to do”.