Piran Ditta Khan, the gang leader convicted of the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, died in prison from natural causes nine months after being sentenced to life imprisonment. Khan, 76, passed away on February 21, 2025, at HMP Wakefield due to complications from lung cancer, bronchial pneumonia, multiple strokes, and advanced cancer of his right lung, according to an assistant coroner's ruling.
Khan had fled to his native Pakistan shortly after PC Beshenivsky was shot and killed during an armed robbery of a travel agents in Bradford on November 18, 2005. He remained on the run for 15 years before being arrested by Pakistani authorities in 2020 and extradited to the UK in 2023. He was convicted in May 2024 as the final member of a seven-man gang involved in the robbery to be brought to justice.
During his trial, the court heard that Khan, who was born in Pakistan and moved to the UK in his early teens, was familiar with the travel agents he had targeted and had used the firm to send money to his family. He was found guilty of murdering PC Beshenivsky, a mother-of-three who had been an officer for only nine months, and of two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon.
PC Beshenivsky and her unarmed colleague PC Teresa Milburn were shot at close range by one of the robbers as they responded to reports of the armed raid. PC Beshenivsky was killed on her daughter's fourth birthday.
In a statement read in court during Khan's sentencing in May 2024, Paul Beshenivsky, PC Beshenivsky's husband, stated that his wife had been killed in a "brutal, callous and futile way" due to the "actions and organisation of one person - Piran Ditta Khan."
Mr Justice Hilliard sentenced Khan to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 40 years, noting that he would spend the remainder of his life in custody due to the gravity of the crime. His son, Shabaz Khan, provided a statement to the coroner's hearing indicating that the sentence had taken a toll on his father, who maintained his innocence regarding the murder charge, claiming he was found guilty by association.
Doctors determined Khan's cancer was too advanced for hospital treatment, and he was returned to prison to receive palliative care. Assistant coroner Naomi McLoughlin ruled Khan's death was from natural causes. He smoked 10 to 15 cigarettes a day and was being treated for stage-four lung cancer when he suffered a stroke in February 2025.