A robber wanted in connection with the murder of Bradford PC Sharon Beshenivsky today told a jury how he used a false identity to slip out of the country to Africa.

Mustaf Jama fled to Somalia via Dubai in the aftermath of the shooting of the 38-year-old rookie officer which followed a botched armed raid on a Bradford travel agency in November 2005.

The 28-year-old denies murder and firearms offences but admitted robbery as part of a seven-strong gang who hoped to escape with £100,000 from the raid.

In fact, as the gang squabbled at their hideout following the shooting of PC Beshenivsky and her colleague PC Teresa Milburn, Mustaf Jama fled with only £1,000 of the £5,000 taken, he told Newcastle Crown Court.

He joined his brother Yusuf and his brother’s friend Muzzaker Shah for the robbery, telling the jury he intended to scare staff with a knife he was carrying.

The jury heard Shah and Yusuf Jama were arrested in the UK in the weeks following the raid, charged and convicted of murder, robbery and firearms offences.

Three other men in the robbery gang, who did not enter the shop, were also convicted of a range of offences, the jury heard.

But Mustaf Jama left the country, Owen Davies QC, defending, said.

“I had papers to leave the country,” the defendant said.

“Were they legitimate?” his barrister asked.

“They were legitimate but not in my name,” the former cleaner said.

He was eventually “involuntarily” returned to the UK, Jama said.

Earlier, the court heard how he was extradited from Somalia and was arrested by West Yorkshire Police when he landed at Heathrow in October 2007.

Jama said he never knew a machine gun and pistol were to be used in the robbery.

He thought when Shah produced them from his laptop bag that they were “fake”, he told the court.

The trial continues.