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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Nadeem Badshah

Man, 74, extradited from Pakistan and charged with murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky

PC Sharon Beshenivsky
PC Sharon Beshenivsky was shot as she responded to a robbery at a travel agent in Morley Street on November 18 2005. Photograph: West Yorkshire Police/PA

A 74-year-old man has been extradited from Pakistan to be charged with the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, who was shot dead in Bradford in 2005.

Piran Ditta Khan was brought back to the UK on Tuesday and taken into custody at a West Yorkshire police station, where he was charged with killing the 38-year-old officer. He is also charged with robbery, two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon.

Piran Ditta Khan
Piran Ditta Khan in Pakistan in 2020. Photograph: Anjum Naveed/AP

Khan was arrested in Pakistan in January 2020. He will appear at Westminster magistrates court in London on Thursday.

A Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) spokesman said the charges were authorised in 2006, leading to the issuing of the extradition warrant.

Joanne Jakymec, chief crown prosecutor for the CPS, said: “A suspect wanted in connection with the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford in 2005 has been extradited to the UK from Pakistan thanks to the continued hard work of prosecutors in the CPS’s extradition and international units.

“Since Piran Ditta Khan was arrested in Pakistan in 2020, our specialist prosecutors have been working closely with our Pakistani partners to complete the legal process in the country so that he could be extradited back to England to face the allegations from almost 20 years ago.”

Beshenivsky, who had three children and two stepchildren, was gunned down as she responded with colleague PC Teresa Millburn to a robbery at a travel agent in Morley Street on November 18 2005.

PC Millburn was left seriously injured by the incident.

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