Accused pleads guilty to murdering WPC in travel agency raid

Published on 12/10/2006 02:40

ONE of five men accused of killing Sharon Beshenivsky, the policewoman shot dead in Bradford last year, has admitted her murder.

Mr Justice Andrew Smith, sitting at Newcastle Crown Court, yesterday lifted an order which had prevented a guilty plea previously entered by Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah, 25, of no fixed address, being reported.

The four other defendants, Yusuf Abdillh Jamma, 20, of Small Heath, Birmingham; Raza Ul-Haq Aslam, 25, of Kentish Town, north London; Faisal Razzaq, 25, and his 26-year-old brother Hassan, both of Forest Gate, east London, all deny her murder.

Shah alone was charged with the attempted murder of PC Beshenivsky's colleague, PC Teresa Milburn, who was also shot during the alleged armed robbery on 18 November last year at a travel agency. He denies that charge.

Shah entered the guilty plea to the murder charge at a hearing at Newcastle Crown Court on 4 October. At that hearing, an order was made preventing publication of the admission.

Following representations by several media organisations, Mr Justice Smith lifted the order yesterday.

A jury of seven women and five men was sworn in on Monday and sent away while legal argument was heard. They are expected to hear the opening of the case this morning.

In June, Shah admitted robbery and a firearms charge at a hearing at Leeds Crown Court.

He entered a further two guilty pleas during yesterday's legal submissions in Newcastle to firearms offences.

PC Beshenivsky died in hospital, leaving behind three children and two stepchildren. Her youngest daughter, Lydia, was celebrating her fourth birthday on the day her mother died.

Her husband, Paul, her son, Samuel, 12, and stepchildren, Emma, 14, and Joshua, 11, attended her funeral earlier this year, while Lydia and PC Beshenivsky's seven-year-old son, Paul, stayed away.

At the time, Chief Constable Colin Cramphorn paid tribute to the officer.

He said: "She saw her role as a police officer in terms of making a difference. The sort of difference that would make this city a better place for her family, her friends, her community.

"And she did make a difference, and Bradford is a better place thanks to the efforts of Police Constable 6410 Sharon Beshenivsky."

The chief constable went on to say that the shock and outrage at the shooting touched the nation, but it was not just the senselessness that had moved people. He said: "It was the recognition that the loss of this true Bradford lass, someone just trying to serve their community, diminished us all, citizen and colleague alike."