Beshinivsky trial: Man cleared of attempted murder

13 April 2012

A 25-year-old man was today cleared of the attempted murder of a woman police officer following a bungled armed robbery in which her colleague was killed.

Mr Justice Andrew Smith ruled Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah had no case to answer over the attempted murder of Pc Teresa Milburn following the raid in Bradford city centre in November last year.

The judge ordered the jury of seven women and five men at Newcastle Crown Court to find Shah not guilty on that count.

No-one else is charged with the attempted murder of Pc Milburn.

But Shah, of no fixed address, has already pleaded guilty to the murder of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky outside the Universal Express travel agents on Morley Street, Bradford, on November 18.

He denies firing the shot that killed her, but admits robbery and four firearms offences.

Today, the judge told the jury: "As you know last week I considered a number of matters.

"One of them was whether the case against Shah on the attempted murder of Pc Milburn should continue in light of the evidence presented by the prosecution.

"Mr Shah had pleaded guilty to all the other charges, including the murder charge.

"The decision that I reached was that the count of the attempted murder charge can not properly be allowed to continue.

"Therefore I'm going to direct you to return a not guilty verdict on that count. Shah will therefore take no further part in the trial after that."

Earlier in the trial, Pc Milburn sobbed in the witness box as she recalled seeing Pc Beshenivsky's head "flop" to the side before she collapsed in a heap in front of her.

After being shot in the chest herself, 37-year-old Pc Milburn staggered down the road before collapsing and issuing a "Code zero" alert to summon help.

Coughing up blood, she managed to describe the gunman to fellow officers as they arrived at the scene.

Pc Milburn recalled seeing an Asian man and a black man in the doorway of the premises, with the Asian man pointing a gun towards them.

The mother-of-one told the court the Asian man was responsible for shooting dead her colleague and injuring herself.

She said: "I could see his forearm and his arm from his elbow and his hand extended to 90 degrees pointing to where Sharon was stood. I saw in his hand he had a gun."

She added: "It was the Asian male that had the gun."

Pc Milburn repeatedly denied suggestions put by Diana Ellis, QC, for Shah, that she was mistaken and a black man was responsible.

"My eyes followed Sharon's head falling down. As she fell down I got a clear view of the Asian male," she told the court.

The jury of seven women and five men also heard Shah partied on champagne and vodka as he visited prostitutes the night before the two officers were shot.

The court heard Shah and others shouted: "Yeah yeah yeah, let's go for it", when they were told by a man called "uncle" - whose real name is Piran Ditta Khan and who remains on the run from police - they could expect between £50,000 and £100,000 if they were to "succeed in the mission".

Pc Beshenivsky, 38, of Keighley, West Yorkshire, was shot and killed in the bungled armed robbery at the Universal Express travel agents in Morley Street, Bradford, on November 18 last year.

Her colleague, Pc Milburn, of Birstall, Batley, was seriously injured.

Yusuf Abdillh Jamma, 20, of Whitmore Road, Small Heath, Birmingham; Raza Ul-Haq Aslam, 25, of St Pancras Way, Kentish Town, north London; Faisal Razzaq, 25, and his 26-year-old brother Hassan, both of Sebert Road, Forest Gate, east London, all deny Pc Beshenivsky's murder.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in