Piran Ditta Khan, the last member of a gang convicted for the 2005 murder of police constable Sharon Beshenivsky, has died in prison from natural causes, a coroner has ruled. Khan, 76, died on February 21, 2025, at HMP Wakefield from complications related to lung cancer, nine months after receiving a life sentence.
Assistant coroner Naomi McLoughlin determined Khan's death was due to natural causes, citing bronchial pneumonia in association with multiple strokes and lung cancer. During a hearing, it was noted that Khan had been diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer and had suffered strokes, which the coroner suggested could have been caused by the cancer. Doctors determined his cancer was too advanced for hospital treatment, and he received palliative care in prison until his death.
Khan fled to his native Pakistan shortly after PC Beshenivsky was shot dead during an armed robbery at a Bradford travel agents on November 18, 2005. He remained a fugitive for 15 years before being arrested by Pakistani authorities in 2020 and extradited to the UK in 2023. He was convicted in May 2024 of murdering PC Beshenivsky, a mother of three, and received a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years. He was found guilty of murder, two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon.
During his trial, jurors were told Khan was familiar with the travel agents, Universal Express, and had used it to send money to his family in Pakistan. He was the final member of the seven-man gang involved in the robbery to be convicted. PC Beshenivsky, who had been an officer for only nine months, was responding to reports of the armed robbery with her unarmed colleague, PC Teresa Milburn, when they were shot. Paul Beshenivsky, her husband, stated in a court statement that Khan's actions were responsible for the