TRIBUTES have been paid to a West Yorkshire Police officer on the 19th anniversary of his death.

PC Ian Broadhurst was just 34 when he was shot by former US marine David Bieber on Boxing Day in 2003.

Unarmed traffic policemen Broadhurst and PC Neil Roper saw Bieber’s stolen BMW parked at the junction of Dib Lane and Grange Park Avenue in north Leeds, before they were shot at with a 9mm handgun.

Roper was hit in the shoulder and abdomen but managed to escape, while PC James Banks – who had been called as back up – saw a bullet hit his radio.

Broadhurst was shot once in the back, before being shot again – in the head and at point blank range – as he laid injured on the ground.

David Bieber, who is originally from Florida, fled the US and arrived in the UK on a false passport in 1996.

He had been questioned over a murder in his home country and, after a spell in Kent, came to Yorkshire in 1998.

A day after the murder of PC Broadhurst, Bieber was found to have taken a taxi journey in Bradford.

He was arrested in Gateshead on December 31, 2003 and was later given three life sentences.

A memorial to PC Broadhurst was unveiled at the scene of the shooting in 2008.

Today, the West Yorkshire Police Federation paid tribute to him almost two decades after his death.

“Remembering PC Ian Broadhurst, of West Yorkshire Police. PC Broadhurst was shot and killed on Boxing Day 2003 as he tried to make an arrest in Leeds. We will never forget him. #LestWeForget,” the Federation said on Twitter.