Murder PC's killers 'watched TV news in panic' after botched robbery, jury told
The gang of seven involved in the fatal robbery that saw PC Sharon Beshenivsky shot dead watched the news “in panic” after their bungled raid, a court heard today.
A jury was told how two of the gang shaved their heads and another burned their clothes outside their ‘safe house’ after a raid on a travel agents went wrong. The gang had allegedly watched as details of the two police officers shot appeared on TV. The aftermath of the Bradford robbery was described at the trial of Piran Ditta Khan, 75, today. Khan is accused of being the “organiser” of the robbery which ended with the death of rookie officer PC Beshenivsky.
He denies murder and possession of various weapons with intent to endanger life. The court heard the other men involved in the robbery have since been convicted of offences including murder, manslaughter, robbery and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
PC Sharon Beshenivsky, 38, was shot dead at point blank range as the robbers fled Universal Travel Express with £5,400. The mum had tried to duck after arriving at the scene around 3.30pm on November 18 2005, the court heard. Her colleague PC Teresa Milburn, 37, was also shot but survived her injuries. She activated her personal alarm on the radio and tried to give details of the shooter despite coughing up blood. Richard Smith KC told Leeds crown court a conversation after the raid shows how important Khan's role was.
Mr Smith said key witness Francois Baron saw the gang at 4.30pm, an hour after the raid on November 18, 2005. They had all travelled back from Bradford in convoy, it was claimed. Baron, who had been working on the asylum seekers accommodation they were using as it was being renovated, said the gang were panicked.
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The van carrying defendants charged with the murder (PA)Mr Smith told the jury: “Francois Baron heard the seven men return to 99 Harehills Lane [in Leeds] and he saw that the whole group had gathered in the second floor bedroom where Hassan Rassaq had slept the previous night. Baron saw and heard what happened next.
“The conversation confirms, the prosecution submit, that the defendant had been closely involved in the organisation and planning of this robbery. Because Muzzaker Shah was heard to say to the defendant that he Piran Ditta Khan, or ‘uncle’, had not told them there was a police station near to where they were going. The defendant appears to have said nothing in reply.”
One of the gang was cleaning the guns, he said and the door to the bedroom was closed so the witness could hear no more. But a moment or two later the door was opened again and Baron asked to keep an eye on the television news and tell them when it was on.
Court artist drawing of Piran Ditta Khan appearing in the dock at Westminster Magistrates' Court (PA)“Francois Baron told the group the news was on television and all seven men came to watch. The news announced that two officers had been shot,” Mr Smith said. He said more details emerged later on the news and after one of these broadcasts “the group began to panic.”
Mustaf Jama, 21, and Yusuf Jama, 19, brothers from Somalia who went into the travel agents armed, shaved their hair. “One of them produced a set of hair clippers…to shave their heads and alter their appearance,” Mr Smith told the jury. “They changed their clothes and replaced them with casual clothes and trainers after getting in the shower.
Another of the gang then used white spirit to set fire to the clothes they had been wearing and the men began to separate, the court heard. “The first to leave was Hassan Rassaq and the defendant in the Mercedes SLK, again with the def travelling in the front passenger seat,” he said.
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