British policewoman gunned down by black and Asian gang members

Richard Woods:

Yesterday flowers were being laid outside the police station in Bradford where Sharon Beshenivsky had served as a constable. The nearby travel agency where she was shot dead remained cordoned off.

The Universal Express Travel Agents in Morley Street, Bradford, had been busy as usual last week. Though the modest shop looks unremarkable, it was, as locals knew, a conduit for significant amounts of cash.

Many of the largely Asian local community took money to the agency so that it could be transferred to friends or relatives in Pakistan. It was known as one of the quickest ways to send help to those in need after the earthquake in Kashmir.

“There was a lot of cash there; people come in with it so it can be wired back home,” said Sher Khan, a local councillor and friend of the family that runs the agency. “Many extra people have been doing that since the earthquake.”

On Friday afternoon three staff were in the shop handling transfers and reckoning up the takings. Mohammad Yousaf, the owner who is in his fifties, and his sons Aqeel and Wakas, in their twenties, were behind the counter when three men walked in just after 3pm. One was Asian, about 25 to 30, and two were black and in their twenties.

They were unmasked and posing as customers, but they had no travel plans or cash to send. Instead, hidden on them, one had a knife and more than one had a firearm.

At first the robbers sat down and pretended to inquire about flights to Pakistan. Minutes later, however, they leapt over the counter. One hit Aqeel in the eye with a gun, according to friends of the family. Another smashed a baseball bat onto the head of Asim Masood, a friend who had dropped in for a chat. “Where’s the cash,” they demanded.

As they grabbed the money, one of the family triggered a silent panic alarm, which was relayed to a security company before being passed on to the police. It was logged in the police control room at 15.26. Two minutes later two officers were dispatched to the scene; one was Sharon Beshenivsky, 38, the other was Teresa Milburn, 37.

BESHENIVSKY and Milburn were part of the fresh face of West Yorkshire police, which has grown by some 600 officers in recent years. It means the force has a quite high proportion of officers with high enthusiasm but little experience.

Milburn, a former machinist, had joined in April 2004 because, the chief constable said yesterday, she wanted “a complete change” in her life.Beshenivsky joined in February this year after two years as a community support officer.

They had completed their basic training and worked alongside experienced constables. Now they had been signed off for “independent patrol” and were on duty in a car not far from Morley Street.

The alarm call gave no indication of the sort of incident in progress. “Police officers always carry in their mind the potential scenarios they may face when attending an emergency”, said Colin Cramphorn, chief constable of West Yorkshire. “But there was . . . no indication of armed robbery. The radio tasking was exemplary.”

For Beshenivsky in particular it was a day of good omens, not bad. A mother of three children and two step- children, it was her youngest child’s fourth birthday. She was looking forward to holding a party after her shift.

As the two women arrived at the scene at 3.30pm, they were wearing standard police protection equipment, including lightly armoured vests. “The vests are stab resistant and have some ballistic resistance,” said Cramphorn. But not enough.
Just as Beshenivsky and Milburn arrived at the shop, the three robbers were making their getaway. “The officers didn’t get into the shop,” said Cramphorn. “One shot was fired straight away. Seconds later other shots were fired.”

One bullet hit Beshenivsky in the chest. Another hit Milburn in the shoulder.

Police radios have a special button that can be used to override all other systems. Hit that and you can talk straight to control. At 3.32pm the call came through: code zero. Officer shot. Other officers were on the scene within minutes. One had previously been a medic in the armed forces and gave first aid to Beshenivsky.

Amir Khan, a 24-year-old, was in a nearby restaurant. “I heard shouting and saw people running up and down the road,” he said. When he went outside he saw a policewoman lying on the ground. “They were pressing on her chest and giving her the kiss of life.”

But Beshenivsky was mortally wounded and was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital. Milburn is in a stable condition but remains in hospital under armed guard.

The three suspects, now in hooded tops, fled down Morley Street and into another road where they drove off in a silver-coloured vehicle. “They came running really hard but laughing and joking,” said a witness. “They were really hyped up.”

They had killed the first policewoman to die in Britain from gunshot wounds since Yvonne Fletcher was shot outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.

A few hours after the killing, Charles Clarke, the home secretary, called Cramphorn to express his sympathy. But the shooting raises questions about whether the government, which has so long promised to crack down on violent crime, has a coherent strategy for tackling the increasing use of firearms.

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