Pc was killed on daughter's birthday
The female police officer gunned down by robbers was murdered hours before she was due to celebrate her youngest child's fourth birthday, it emerged yesterday.
Pc Sharon Beshenivsky, 38, a mother of three children and two stepchildren, had served in West Yorkshire Police for just eight months after earlier working as a community support officer.
Pc Sharon Beshenivsky: Police said the gunman had not hesitated to open fire on the
unarmed officers
She was shot in the chest as the gang fled a travel agency in Bradford city centre. Despite wearing a protective vest, Pc Beshenivsky died within minutes.
A second female officer who was seriously inj
ured when she was shot in the shoulder was named yesterday as Teresa Milburn, 37, who joined the force in
April last year. She is married with a 16-year-old son.
It was the first time in Britain that two female officers had been fired upon in the same incident. The father of Pc Beshenivsky, Billy Jagger, 61, last night demanded that
all police officers should be armed, saying that no other family should have to suffer the same loss as his.
"When you expect police to protect us, they should be given the best chance of protecting themselves," he said.
The Police Federation has called for a greater number of officers to be given firearms training.
One of the gang taunted the officers as they launched their fatal attack, according to an unconfirmed report. A resident, who asked not to be named, said: "A man who witnessed the incident told me the gunman had taunted the officers, saying something like &#
39;b
ring on the rest of them'."
Detectives are hunting for three men armed with a gun and a knife who held up Universal Express shortly before 3.30pm on Frid
ay and escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Police said a man and a woman were arrested by armed officers in London at 8.30am yesterday in connection with the murder. It is understood that they may have been linked to the getaway vehicle. Yesterday afternoon, three men were arrested in London and another man was arrested in the capital last night.
Colin Cramphorn, the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, said Pc Beshenivsky joined her patrol team in May after completing her training and was "an enthusiastic, mature and very positive colleague".
He added: "They remember in particular her infectious laugh and I think her inspector said it all for me when he said he would have liked 30 Sharons on the shift."
Pc Milburn remained under armed police guard in hospital last night after what
Mr Cramp
horn described as a "difficult night". Her injuries are not life threatening. Officers gave details yesterday of what happened during the raid and how the three men,
two black and one Asi
an all aged between 20 and 30, escaped.
The men had posed as customers before jumping over the counter. One member of the four staff on duty was struck across the head with a gun.
At 3.26pm one of the staff set off a panic alarm, alerting police. Within two minutes, Pc Beshenivsky and Pc Milburn had arrived. As the gunmen burst out of the travel agent's at 3.32pm, at least one opened fire with "several" shots.
Police said the gunman had not hesitated to open fire on the unarmed officers.
The robbers fled along Morley Street. A witness saw them go on to Edmund Street and Lansdown Road, where they got into a silver car. Police were last night studying CCTV footage taken from cameras in the city centre.
<
br>Det Supt
Andy Brennan, who is leading the murder hunt, said of Pc Milburn: "She is very traumatised by the fact her friend and colleague has been murdered in this way."
Pc Milburn lives with her husband, Chris, and their son, James, in Birstall, near Bradford. M
r Milburn was too upset to discuss the shooting, saying he was "going back to the hospital" to be with his wife.
Mr Cramphorn said Pc Milburn had previously been a machinist and was hoping for a "complete change" and "new opportunities" in joining the police. She was a "very committed individual in making that change".
He said officers working on the case had a "firm determination" to bring the killers to justice. "There is a lot of hurt and upset, and soul-searching going on. There were a great deal of tears shed and, yes, I shed them too." He said that Pc Beshenivsky's husband, Paul, and their children - aged from four-year-old Lydia, whose birthday i
t was on Friday
, to 14 - were "completely devastated". The family moved to Keighley in July and live in a converted barn with views across the moors.
Yesterday police officers guarding the cordon around the murder scene laid floral tributes to Pc Beshenivsky. A 22-year-old community support officer said: "She was a lovely person, very, very ki
nd."
Police said that the first robber was Asian, aged 25 to 30, of medium to stocky build with short black hair and a beard, and was 5ft 8in to 5ft 10in tall. The second was black, aged 20 to 30, slim and 6ft tall. He was wearing dark, smart clothing. The third man was black and aged 20 to 30.
The incident has reopened the debate on whether all officers should be routinely armed.
Hazel Blears, the Home Office minister, rejected calls for an armed force. "It is important that the police have a very close relationship with the public and for them to routinely carry guns might
put that at risk,&q
uot; she said. But Metin Enver, a spokesman for the Police Federation, which represents 130,000 officers, said it would lobby for more firearms training. Ten years ago, 6,837 officers were trained to use firearms, but that had dropped to 6,096 in 2004.
"We've seen an increase in gun crime, but a decline in the number of authorised officers. We want more officers auth
orised in firearms use."
Lord Stevens, the former head of the Metropolitan Police, said the killer of Pc Beshenivsky should lose his life.
"All my life I've been against the death penalty," he said. "But I've changed my mind. I never thought I'd say this, but I am convinced that the monster who executed this young woman in cold blood should, in turn, be killed as punishment for his crime."
Friday's incident, the seventh killing of a serving female officer, brought back memories of the shooting of Pc Ian Broa
dhurst in nearby Leeds
on Boxing Day, 2003. His widow, Elisa, said yesterday: "The news is very hard to hear. My heart skipped a beat when I was told."
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Rookie WPc shot dead
A policewoman was shot dead yesterday and a second female officer was seriously wound
ed as they answered a personal alarm call to an armed robbery.
Both were unarmed and probationers in their mid-30s with less than two years' service. The officer who died had no children. The other was in a serious condition in hospital and under armed guard last night. Her injuries were "not life-threatening".
Police guard the scene of the shooting in Bradford
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r posted image' />
Both were wearing body armour as they rushed to a travel agents in the centre of Bradford at about 3.25pm, although they did not know that an armed robbery was taking place.
The woman who died was hit by a single shot. Her colleague was wounded in the shoulder when several other shots were fired.
A huge manhunt was launched for three men and the area around the scene of the crime was "locked down". Many venues in the city centre remained closed for the night. Armed police combed the streets within a cordon stret
ching more than half a mile and were also standing guard at the shop.
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