- Murder of Sharon Beshenivsky
-
Sharon Beshenivsky 
West Yorkshire Police January 14, 1967 – November 18, 2005 (aged 38) Badge number PC 6410 Place of birth Yorkshire, England Place of death Bradford, West Yorkshire, England Rank Police Constable PC Sharon Beshenivsky (14 January 1967–18 November 2005)[1] was a West Yorkshire Police constable shot dead by a criminal gang during a robbery in Bradford on 18 November 2005, becoming the seventh female police officer in Great Britain to be killed on duty.
Another police officer, PC Teresa Millburn, was also shot in the incident, receiving serious wounds to the chest. Millburn had joined the force less than two years earlier; Beshenivsky had served only nine months in the force at the time of her death.
Closed-circuit television cameras tracked a car rushing from the scene and used an automatic number plate recognition system to trace its owners. This led to six suspects being arrested; three were later convicted of murder, robbery and firearms offences; two of manslaughter, robbery and firearms offences; and one of robbery. A seventh suspect remains at large.
Contents
Background
Sharon Beshenivsky had been serving as a police officer for only nine months and was therefore classed as a probationer under the supervision of an experienced colleague.[2]
Murder
On the afternoon of 18 November 2005, Beshenivsky and a colleague and fellow probationer Teresa Millburn responded to reports that an attack alarm had been activated at a travel agent on Morley Street in Bradford. Upon arrival the officers encountered three men who had robbed the agent of £5,405; one was armed with a gun, another with a knife. The gunman fired at them immediately at point-blank range, fatally wounding Beshenivsky in the chest and also hitting Millburn in the chest, before all three men made a getaway in a convoy of cars.[3]
Beshenivsky was the seventh female officer to die in the line of duty in England and Wales, the second female officer to be fatally shot (the first was Yvonne Fletcher in 1984), and the first female officer to die in an 'ordinary' gun crime (Fletcher was shot during a protest at the Libyan embassy in London).
She had three children and two stepchildren, and died on her youngest daughter's fourth birthday. Beshenivsky's funeral took place on 6 January 2006 at Bradford Cathedral.[4]
Arrests
On 25 November 2005, police named Somali brothers Mustaf Jama, aged 25, and Yusaf Jama, aged 19, as well as 24-year-old Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah as prime suspects.[5] Yusaf Jama was arrested in Birmingham the following day and was subsequently charged with murder and robbery. On 12 December 2005, Shah was arrested in Newport, South Wales; he was later also charged with Beshenivsky's murder. Mustaf Jama had fled to Somalia but was extradited two years later.
Convictions
On 18 December 2005, Yusuf Jama was found guilty of all charges against him, including the murder of Sharon Beshenivsky. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he should serve a tariff of thirty-five years before being considered for parole, more than double the recommended minimum term imposed on most suspects found guilty of a single murder. This was expected to keep Yusuf Jama imprisoned until at least 2040 and the age of sixty.
Suspect Convictions Sentence Mustaf Jama Murder; robbery; firearms Life with 35-year tariff Yusuf Jama Murder; robbery; firearms Life with 35-year tariff Muzzaker Shah Murder; robbery; firearms Life with 35-year tariff Faisal Razzaq Manslaughter; robbery; firearms Life with 11-year tariff Hassan Razzaq Manslaughter; robbery; firearms 20 years Raza Ul-Haq Aslam Robbery 8 years Muzzaker Shah was also sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended tariff of thirty-five years, which was also expected to keep him in prison until at least 2040 and the age of sixty.
Faisal Razzaq, a 25-year-old from London, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he should serve at least eleven years before being considered for parole. This was expected to keep him imprisoned until at least 2017 and the age of 36. He had driven the lead car of the gang's convoy from Leeds to Bradford and acted as a lookout during the robbery.
On 2 March 2007, Hassan Razzaq, the 26-year-old brother of Faisal, was also convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to twenty years in prison. He had also acted as a lookout.[6] Raza Ul-Haq Aslam was a third lookout and was sentenced to eight years in prison for a single robbery offence.
All of the suspects except Aslam were also found guilty of robbery and a series of firearms offences.[7]
On 1 November 2007, Mustaf Jama was extradited from Somalia after an undercover Home Office operation and taken into police custody at Bridewell police station in Leeds.[8] He was charged the next day with the murder of Beshenivsky, appeared before Leeds magistrates, and was remanded into custody.[9][10] On 22 July 2009 at Newcastle Crown Court, Mustaf Jama was found guilty of murder and was also told that he would serve at least thirty-five years in prison.[11] It later transpired that he had been released from prison (having been convicted of burglary and robbery offences) just six months before Beshenivsky's murder and that he had been considered for deportation to his native Somalia but Home Office officials ruled it was "too dangerous".[12]
Appeals
Yusuf Jama and Muzzaker Shah appealed for their sentences to be reduced. The High Court heard their appeals but agreed with the trial judge's recommended minimum term for both men and rejected the appeals.
In November 2010, Mustaf Jama made an application for permission to appeal his sentence. The Court of Appeal rejected his application in March 2011.[13]
Hewan Gordon was jailed for eighteen months in 2007 for helping Shah evade capture after Beshenivsky's murder. In 2010 he won an appeal against a government bid to deport him to his native Somalia. His appeal was understood to have been made on human rights grounds[14] and drew heavy criticism from police, politicians and Beshenivsky's family.[15]
Unapprehended suspect
The alleged mastermind of the robbery, Piran Ditta Khan, remains unapprehended. It has been reported that the 50-year-old fled to Pakistan.[16] A reward of £20,000 has been offered for information leading to his arrest.[17][18]
Subsequent events
In June 2007, Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah received an additional nine years to his sentence for firearms offences committed during a car chase in 2004.
In December 2007, Yusuf Jama was also convicted of conspiracy to rape and handed an additional twelve years to his sentence. The case related to the gang rape of a woman at a house party in Birmingham some days after Beshenivsky's murder.
In March 2008, both Shah and Yusuf Jama received a further four years imprisonment for wounding with intent after they stabbed another inmate at Frankland prison in Brasside, County Durham.
Faisal Razzaq was handed an additional seven-and-a-half year sentence in June 2007 for possessing prohibited firearms in 2004.[19]
On 18 August 2006 the rugby league club Bradford Bulls made a presentation on the pitch at their home stadium during the half-time interval of a match with Castleford Tigers, in Beshenivsky's honour. Her widower Paul, along with the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police Colin Cramphorn, were guests as Bradford Bulls chairman Peter Hood unveiled a memorial bench in her honour, which was to be placed in the club's reception area. On 8 May 2009, a memorial to Beshenivsky was unveiled at the location of her death. At the unveiling, then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid tribute to the officer's "dedication, professionalism and courage". Michael Winner, chairman of the Police Memorial Trust, also praised Beshenivsky and police officers across the country, saying: "Take them away and there's total anarchy and we are devoured by the forces of evil."
See also
References
- ^ Deaths England and Wales 1984-2006
- ^ "Shot policewoman 'loved by all'". BBC News. 22 July 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/5402094.stm. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
- ^ "The life and death of PC Sharon Beshenivsky". The Independent (London). 20 November 2005. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-life-and-death-of-pc-sharon-beshenivsky-516152.html.
- ^ "City remembers murdered officer". BBC News. 11 January 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/4598286.stm. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
- ^ "Police name Pc shooting suspects". BBC News. 25 November 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4470286.stm. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
- ^ "Beshenivsky killer gets 20 years". BBC News. 2 March 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/6410633.stm. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
- ^ "Pc murderers must serve 35 years". BBC News. 22 December 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/6203517.stm. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
- ^ "Man in court on Pc murder charge". BBC News. 2 November 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7073338.stm. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
- ^ "Man in court on Pc murder charge". BBC News. 2 November 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/7073338.stm. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
- ^ "Guilty: Police Murderer". Sky News. December 18, 2006. http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,70131-1244554,00.html?f=rss. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
- ^ "Man guilty of Beshenivsky murder". BBC News. 22 July 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/8163437.stm. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
- ^ Hale, Beth; Greenhill, Sam (23 July 2009). "Why was he still here? Fury over Home Office's failure to deport man who shot dead WPC Sharon Beshenivsky". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1201449/Killer-shot-dead-Pc-Sharon-Beshenivsky-bungled-raid-jailed-life.html.
- ^ http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23936210-killer-of-police-officer-sharon-beshenivsky-loses-conviction-bid.do
- ^ http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/8675618.PC_Sharon_Beshenivsky_s_widower_tells_of__upset__at_killer_s_appeal/
- ^ Sullivan, Mike (16 January 2010). "Somali who hid WPC Sharons killer is allowed to stay in the UK". The Sun (London). http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2811038/Fury-as-Somali-who-hid-WPC-Sharon-Beshenivskys-killer-is-allowed-to-stay-in-UK.html.
- ^ "Mastermind 'hiding in village'". Asian Image. 22 December 2006. http://www.asianimage.co.uk/feeds/1089351.mastermind_hiding_in_village/. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
- ^ "Wanted - Piran Ditta Khan - 20,000 reward offered". West Yorkshire Police. 18 November 2009. http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/files/docs/Wanted%20poster.pdf. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
- ^ "£20,000 bounty on last suspect for murder of PC Sharon". The Telegraph & Argus. 18 November 2009. http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/4744839.__20_000_bounty_on_last_suspect_for_murder_of_PC_Sharon/. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
- ^ http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/around-yorkshire/local-stories/sharon_beshenivsky_s_killers_long_sentences_for_a_crime_that_shocked_the_nation_1_2362386
External links
- "Woman Pc shot on child's birthday". BBC News. 20 November 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/4451508.stm.
Categories:- 1967 births
- 2005 deaths
- Murder in 2005
- People from Yorkshire
- 2005 in England
- People murdered in England
- Deaths by firearm in England
- English murder victims
- Female British police officers
- Murdered British police officers
- British police officers killed in the line of duty
- Deaths by person
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