Alleged robbery mastermind ‘eating sandwiches in car’ when officers were shot

The alleged mastermind of an armed robbery was eating sandwiches in a lookout car when two police officers were shot, a court has heard.

Unarmed police constables Sharon Beshenivsky and Teresa Milburn were shot at point-blank range as they responded to a raid at Universal Express travel agents in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in November 2005.

Pc Beshenivsky, 38, died from her injuries while Pc Milburn was shot in the chest and survived.

Leeds Crown Court has heard a total of seven men were involved in carrying out the raid, with alleged ringleader Piran Ditta Khan the last to face trial almost two decades on.

On Wednesday Khan, 75, said he was in a Mercedes SLK with one of his fellow robbers, Hassan Razzaq, while the raid was being carried out.

He has told jurors Razzaq, whom he met through a business acquaintance, had offered to help him get back £12,000 he was owed by Mohammad Yousaf, the owner of Universal Express.

Khan says he thought the men Razzaq sent to get the money would “intimidate” the staff there but denied knowing a robbery was going to take place, or that guns were going to be used.

The defendant said he and Razzaq were eating sandwiches just before driving away from the scene in the wake of the robbery.

“We were eating sandwiches. He said ‘uncle, quickly shut the door’. I shut the door and he drove off.”

Khan said he did not find out that two police officers had been shot until the group got back to a house in Leeds they had stayed in the night before.

Prosecutor Robert Smith KC asked Khan about a call made from one of the other robbers to Razzaq just after 3.30pm – when Razzaq and Khan were in the car together and the two officers were “lying on the pavement outside Universal Express”.

Khan said he did not hear anything that was said in the call and was not paying attention.

The defendant said when they got back to the house in Harehills Lane, Leeds: “They were panicking, they were screaming and shouting and roaring.”

He added: “It was more than shock hearing two police officers were shot.”

Asked what the group were doing at the house for an hour before leaving, Khan said: “There was no celebrations or drinks or dance parties. It wasn’t a minor thing – people had died.”

He denied having organised all the events that day, including where the cars were to be parked during the robbery, saying: “It wasn’t my planning. It must be their planning – all I knew was I needed my money and they were responsible to get that for me.”

Jurors have heard Pc Beshenivsky and Pc Milburn were shot by one of three men who had just carried out the robbery, with the gunman then firing indiscriminately as they fled the scene.

Prosecutors say that although Khan did not leave the safety of a lookout car during the raid, he is guilty of Pc Beshenivsky’s murder because of his “pivotal” role in planning the robbery knowing that loaded weapons were to be used.

They claim Khan was the only one of the group who was familiar with Universal Express after using the business to send money to family in Pakistan.

Khan denies murder, two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon. He has pleaded guilty to robbery.

The trial continues.