PC killer died in jail from natural causes - inquest

A man jailed for the murder of a police officer during an armed robbery died in prison from natural causes, a coroner has concluded.

Piran Ditta Khan died at HMP Wakefield on 21 February last year, aged 76, less than a year after being convicted of killing PC Sharon Beshenivsky.

Wakefield Coroner's Court heard Khan had died from complications associated with lung cancer, with no evidence he had been assaulted or suffered any trauma.

Khan was the mastermind of the robbery at a Bradford travel agents in 2005 that ended in PC Beshenivsky being shot dead. At the time of his death he was serving a life sentence, with a minimum term of 40 years, having spent 15 years on the run.

Assistant coroner Naomi McLoughlin said she had received a statement from Khan's son, Shabaz Khan, which said the imposition of the 40-year tariff had "taken its toll" on his father.

The coroner said he explained that his father had always maintained his guilt in relation to the robbery, but had pleaded not guilty to murdering PC Beshenivsky and was found guilty "by association".

Khan was being treated for stage-four lung cancer when he was taken to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield in February 2025 suffering from what turned out to be a stroke, the hearing was told.

Doctors decided his cancer was too advanced for any rehabilitation work in hospital to make any difference, so Khan was returned to prison where he received palliative care until his death 10 days later.

McLoughlin said the cause of Khan's death was bronchial pneumonia "in association with" multiple strokes and cancer of his right lung.

The coroner noted the strokes could well have been caused by the cancer.

PC Beshenivsky had been attending reports of an armed robbery on 18 November 2005, the day of her daughter's fourth birthday, along with her colleague PC Teresa Milburn.

They were both unarmed and were shot at point-blank range by one of the three men who had carried out the raid.

Khan fled to Pakistan following the robbery and remained on the run until he was arrested by Pakistani authorities in January 2020.

He was then extradited to the UK in 2023 and the following April he became the last of the seven men involved in the robbery to be convicted.

He was found guilty of murdering PC Beshenivsky, as well as two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon, at Leeds Crown Court.

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