Piran Ditta Khan, the mastermind behind the 2005 armed robbery at a Bradford travel agents that led to the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, has died in jail.
Khan died on February 21, 2025, at the top-security Wakefield Prison. His death came less than a year after he was jailed for life with a 40-year minimum term for murdering the police officer, after he had spent 15 years on the run.
Inquest rules natural causes
A 20-minute inquest hearing at Wakefield Coroner’s Court on Wednesday (26 August) confirmed no evidence of assault or trauma, and concluded that the 76-year-old died from complications associated with lung cancer. He died of natural causes, a coroner has ruled.
Assistant Coroner Naomi McLoughlin told the inquest that she had 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 Mr Khan described how his father had always maintained his guilt in relation to the robbery but had pleaded not guilty to murder and was found guilty "by association".
Cancer and stroke treatment
The court heard that Khan was being treated for stage-four lung cancer when he was taken to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield in February of last year, suffering from what turned out to be a stroke.
Doctors decided his cancer was too advanced for any rehabilitation work in hospital to have made any difference, so Khan was returned to prison where he received palliative care until his death 10 days later.
Ms McLoughlin said his cause of 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.
Background and conviction
The court heard Khan was born in Pakistan, came to the UK in his early teens and was married with five children. He smoked around 10 to 15 cigarettes a day.
PC Beshenivsky was shot dead on her daughter’s fourth birthday in November 2005 after responding to an active robbery at the Universal Express travel agency in Bradford. She and her partner, PC Teresa Milburn, were both unarmed and shot at point-blank range as the robbers fled.
Khan was the sole gang member familiar with the business. Two months after the killing, he fled to Pakistan, remaining at large for nearly 15 years until his arrest in 2020 and extradition to the UK in 2023.
In April 2024, Khan became the seventh and final member of the gang to be convicted. He was found guilty at Leeds Crown Court of murder, firearm possession, and weapon offenses, in May 2024.
At sentencing, Mr Justice Hilliard noted that Khan would inevitably spend the rest of his life behind bars due to the gravity of his actions.
In a statement to the court in 2024, Paul Beshenivsky, who had been married to PC Beshenivsky for four years when she died, said: "The way we lost Sharon was in the most brutal, callous and futile way. She never came home due to the actions and organisation of one person – Piran Ditta Khan."
