Beshenivsky raid man 'heard shot'

Mustaf Jama denies murdering Pc Beshenivsky

The victim of an armed robbery in Bradford in which Pc Sharon Beshenivsky died has told of the moment he heard the police officer being shot.

Aqueel Khokar heard gunshots as he and his brothers lay tied up at their family-run travel agents, Newcastle Crown Court was told.

Pc Beshenivsky was shot once in the chest as she and a colleague responded to an alarm call at the shop in 2005.

Mustaf Jama, 28, denies murdering the mother-of-three.

He has admitted robbery, but denies murder, possessing firearms and prohibited weapons.

The jury has been told that his brother, Yusuf, then 20, and gang boss Muzzaker Shah, then 25, have been convicted of murder.

I went outside and I saw two police officers lying out on the pavement by the door Aqueel Khokar

Pc Beshenivsky had been a serving constable for nine months when she died.

Her colleague, Pc Teresa Milburn, was also shot in the street as the robbers, Muzzaker Shah, Yusuf Jama and Mustaf Jama, tried to escape the Universal Travel Agents, in Morley Street, with the money they had taken, jurors heard.

Aqueel Khokar told the court how he and his brothers were tied up and beaten during the robbery, while their father and uncle were also threatened.

He told the court he heard gunshots as the gang left the shop.

Panic alarm

"I heard the door being opened and then I heard some shots being fired and a scream," he said.

"I went outside and I saw two police officers lying out on the pavement by the door.

"It was absolute bedlam. I could see police cars and helicopters and these two police officers just lying on the ground."

Mr Khokar's brother Waqas Yousaf told the jury he was also in the travel premises when the robbers entered.

He said he managed to push a panic button hidden under one of the desks, alerting the police.

He said the robbers had not noticed him press the alarm and that he felt calmer knowing the police would soon be on the way.

Earlier, Robert Smith QC, prosecuting, told the jury that even though it was not Mustaf Jama who fired the fatal shot that killed Pc Beshenivsky, he was as guilty of murder as the man who had.

He explained to the jury that Mr Jama had been accused of murder not because he had fired the fatal shot, but because he had been part of a conspiracy to commit armed robbery that was likely to end with someone being harmed.

The trial continues.