A Birmingham man faces life in prison after being convicted of the murder of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky, who was shot dead during a bungled armed robbery at a travel agent’s.
Yusuf Abdillh Jamma was unanimously found guilty of the 38-year-old mother’s murder, while Faisal Razzaq and his brother Hassan were cleared of murder but convicted of her manslaughter by a majority of 10-1 following an 11-week trial at Newcastle Crown Court.
Pc Beshenivsky was shot and killed on November 18 last year as she arrived at the scene in Bradford city centre on the day of her youngest daughter’s fourth birthday.
Her colleague Pc Teresa Milburn was also gunned down in the street as the robbers escaped with little more than #5,000. Raza Ul-Haq Aslam (25) was also cleared of Pc Beshenivsky’s murder, manslaughter and firearms offences, but the jury is still considering a robbery charge against him and will resume deliberations today.
Earlier in the trial, a fifth man, 25-year-old Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah, admitted her murder, along with robbery and firearms charges.
Faisal Razzaq (25) and his 26-year-old brother Hassan were both cleared of possessing a MAC-10 sub-machine gun and a 9mm pistol with intent to endanger life, but found guilty of possessing the firearms.
Jamma, of Whitmore Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, was found guilty of possessing the firearms with intent to endanger life.
He had earlier admitted two counts of possessing the firearms and robbery and was cleared of the attempted murder of Pc Milburn.
Part-way through the trial, the judge Mr Justice Andrew Smith ordered the jury to clear Shah, from London, of Pc Milburn’s attempted murder. Two other men, including Jamma’s brother Mustaf and a man called Piran Ditta Khan, remain on the run from police.
Jamma; Aslam, of St Pancras Way, Kentish Town, north London; Faisal Razzaq; and his brother Hassan, both of Sebert Road, Forest Gate, east London, showed no reaction as the verdicts were given.
Jamma told the jury he fired the fatal shot from the 9mm pistol, but did not intend to kill the officer. He denied he intentionally discharged the gun, or that he knew it was real and loaded.
