PC Sharon Beshenivsky murder trial: Piran Ditta Khan takes stand
The alleged mastermind of an armed robbery in which a police officer was shot dead has told his murder trial he "never" went in the building where it happened.
Piran Ditta Khan gave evidence at Leeds Crown Court on Friday – more than 18 years after PC Sharon Beshenivsky was killed in Bradford.
The mother-of-three, who was 38, was responding to a raid at Universal Express travel agent in Morley Street on 18 November 2005 when she died. Her colleague, PC Teresa Milburn, was seriously injured.
The court has heard seven men were involved in carrying out the robbery. Mr Khan is the last to face trial.
He was arrested in Pakistan in January 2020, before being charged with murder and extradited to the UK.
The prosecution claims he remained in his car, but was the ringleader of the robbery.
Assisted by an interpreter, Mr Khan, 75, told the jury he had used Universal Express to transfer money to Pakistan but had "never set foot" in the premises.
He said the business's owner, Mohammad Yousaf had "lost his trust" after £12,000 he gave him to send to Pakistan was not transferred.
Mr Khan said Hassan Razzaq, one of the seven men who went on to carry out the robbery, offered to "get his money back".
He said: “I asked him ‘How will you get the money?’ He said: ‘Uncle you leave that to me’.”
Mr Khan said Razzaq never told him how he would to get the money back.
He told the court: "He doesn’t look like a gangster to me, he was well dressed, well spoken, I wasn’t thinking ‘he’s a gangster’. To me he’s a very polite man."
Mr Khan told the court he came to the UK from Pakistan as a teenager in 1965, initially living in Bradford.
At the time of the robbery he was living in London.
The court was given details about his background, including that he was illiterate and worked in a biscuit factory.
Mr Khan asked to sit during evidence because of ill health, including skin cancer and arthritis.
Three men have already been convicted of murder. Two others were found guilty of manslaughter, along with robbery and firearms offences. A sixth was convicted of robbery.
The court has previously heard prosecution claims that, while Mr Khan was not one of the three men who carried out the robbery, and did not shoot PC Beshenivsky, he "was responsible for organising this robbery in the knowledge that loaded firearms were to be carried".Mr Khan pleaded guilty in October last year to robbery but denies murder and firearms offences.
The trial continues.
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