Widower of Sharon Beshenivsky on Manchester shootings

Paul Beshenivsky, the widower of policewoman Sharon Beshenivsky Credit: Peter Byrne/PA Wire

The widower of murdered Bradford police constable Sharon Beshenivsky has called for the routine arming of officers.

Paul Beshenivsky says that the deaths of two female police officers in Greater Manchester should "open the public's eyes".

He said: "You wouldn't think it'd happen again, but it has."

He added: "I think policing, as regarding going to scenes of crimes, should be monitored better, and I think police, in honesty, should be armed, walking into situations that they're not totally aware of.

"You can't have armed response at every situation, but I think, as an officer being armed, walk into a situation, feeling more comfortable, walking into that situation, thinking, 'I could respond to that situation'."

PC Beshenivsky was gunned down in Bradford in November 2005 during a botched travel agent robbery.

The 38-year-old mother-of-three, who also had two stepchildren, was shot and killed on her youngest daughter's fourth birthday as she responded to an alarm call.

Her colleague, PC Teresa Milburn, was wounded.