THE conviction of Piran Ditta Khan marks the end of an 18-year hunt for justice after the killing of PC Sharon Beshenivsky.
Khan, 75, is the last of seven men involved in the fatal armed robbery to be convicted for his role.
The other six men were found guilty of offences including murder, manslaughter, robbery and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Here are the key events leading up to today’s verdict, where Khan was convicted of murder.
He was also found guilty of two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. He was unanimously convicted of two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon.
November 2003
Sharon Beshenivsky joins West Yorkshire Police as a Police Community Support Officer.
February 2005
She becomes a serving police officer with West Yorkshire Police.
November 13, 2005
Piran Ditta Khan and Hassan Razzaq travel from London to carry out reconnaissance on Universal Express travel agents in Morley Street, Bradford.
November 17
Four of the group gather at a “safe house” on Harehills Lane, Leeds, where they party on champagne and vodka, and visit a brothel.
November 18
7am
PC Beshenivsky, 38, and PC Teresa Milburn, 37, begin their day from Bradford Central police station.
3pm
Three men posing as customers go in to Universal Express travel agents, before brandishing weapons, assaulting staff and demanding money before threatening to “shoot the youngest”.
3.26pm
Waqas Yousaf manages to trigger a silent alarm. Police are alerted and PC Beshenivsky and PC Milburn respond to the report. As they approach the door a gunman emerges from the premises and shoots both officers before firing indiscriminately on the way to a getaway car. The robbers escape with a little over £5,000.
3.32pm
Officers at West Yorkshire Police’s control room receive a Code Zero call, indicating a colleague has been shot. Officers arrive within minutes and PC Beshenivsky is taken to hospital but cannot be saved.
November 20
Paul Beshenivsky, PC Beshenivsky’s widower, arrives at the scene of the shooting to lay flowers.
PC Milburn is released from hospital.
November 25
Police name three men they want in connection with the murder and issue photos of Muzzaker Shah, and brothers Mustaf and Yusuf Jama.
November 27
Police arrest Yusuf Jama in Birmingham.
December 12
Muzzaker Shah is arrested in Newport, Gwent.
Between Christmas and New Year Mustaf Jamma is thought to flee the country to his native Somalia.
January 2006
Hundreds of police officers line the streets of Bradford as PC Beshenivsky’s funeral cortege moves through the city towards the funeral service at Bradford Cathedral, passing the spot where she was gunned down.
October 2006
A trial starts for five of the group. Shah pleads guilty to murder before the jury is sworn in.
December 2006
Yusuf Abdillh Jama is found guilty of murder. Brothers Hassan Razzaq and Faisal Razzaq are cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter by a majority of 10-1.
Raza Ul-Haq Aslam is cleared of both murder and manslaughter. The jury failed to reach a verdict in relation to the robbery charge faced by him.
December 20
Newspapers report that Mustaf Jama fled Britain, passing through Heathrow Airport disguised as his sister wearing a veil.
December 22
Shah and Yusuf Jama are sentenced to life and ordered to serve at least 35 years in jail. Shah makes defiant gangster rap-style hand gestures to relatives as he is led out of the dock.
Faisal Razzaq is given a life sentence and told he will serve a minimum of 11 years.
March 2007
Hassan Razzaq is jailed for 20 years.
May 2007
Raza al ul Haq Aslam, who acted as a look-out during the raid, is jailed for eight years after being convicted of robbery during a retrial.
June 2007
Shah receives an additional nine-year sentence, to run concurrent to his life sentence, for firearms offences committed during a car chase in 2004. Faisal Razzaq receives seven-and-a-half years, to run concurrently to his life term, for possession of firearms in 2004.
November 2007
Mustaf Jama is arrested and extradited to the UK from Somalia.
March 2008
Yusuf Jama and Shah are sentenced to four years in prison, concurrent with their minimum 35-year life sentences, for stabbing a fellow prisoner at the high-security Frankland Prison in County Durham.
January 2009
A jury is unable to reach a verdict in the murder trial of Mustaf Jama.
May 2009
Gordon Brown, then Prime Minister, unveils a memorial to PC Beshenivsky at the place where she was shot.
July 2009
Mustaf Jama is jailed for life with a minimum term of 35 years after being convicted of murder and firearms offences during a retrial at Newcastle Crown Court.
November 2009
A poster offering a £20,000 reward is released in Pakistan by police trying to trace Piran Ditta Khan on the fourth anniversary of PC Beshenivsky’s death.
January 2020
Khan is arrested in Pakistan and appears in an Islamabad court, where his extradition is discussed. At a second hearing, he asks to be tried in his home country.
April 2023
Khan is extradited from Pakistan and taken into custody at a West Yorkshire police station where he is charged with murder, robbery, two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon. He appears at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on April 13.
October 2023
Khan pleads guilty to robbery at Leeds Crown Court. He denies murder, two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon.
February 2024
Khan goes on trial at Leeds Crown Court.
April 4, 2024
Khan is convicted of murder and firearms offences.
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