A man was found guilty today of the murder of a British policewoman during a botched raid on a Bradford travel agency in November last year.
Yusuf Jama (20), who had admitted during the trial that he was the man who shot Sharon Beshenivksy, was part of a gang that had planned the robbery. He was found guilty of murder and two firearms charges at Newcastle Crown Court.
Two other members of the gang that planned the raid - brothers Faisal Razzaq (25), and Hassan Razzaq (26), were cleared of murder, but found guilty of manslaughter.
Beshenivsky, a mother to five, was killed as she and colleague Teresa Milburn answered an emergency call. The 999 call had been triggered by a secret alarm in the Universal Express agency in the city's Morley Street. Within seconds both constables had been shot in the chest.
Beshenivsky (38), died almost instantaneously while her colleague was badly wounded.
The blurred CCTV images of the instant the two officers crumpled to the pavement was one of the defining moments of the trial's start two months ago.
Just days later Jama made a surprise admission when he told the court he was the one who had pulled the trigger. He said the shots had been fired in the heat of the moment and had not been intentional.
Before the trial began, 25-year-old Muzzaker Shah, pleaded guilty to Beshenivsky's murder. He said he had not fired the fatal shot and was cleared of Ms Milburn's attempted murder.
Jama's co-defendant Raza Aslam, who had also been accused of murder, was cleared of all charges.
The prosecution had argued all the men were guilty of murder regardless of who had fired the fatal shot.