Lawless state was paid to seize warlord’s son Mustaf Jama, convicted of murdering Sharon Beshenivsky in bungled robbery
The final member of a robbery gang who shot dead a policewoman in Bradford was jailed for life today as details emerged of a snatch operation in Somalia which brought him back to face a British court.
A judge allowed publication for the first time of a deal which saw the Foreign and Home Offices pay the African state, which has no diplomatic ties with London, to seize 29-year-old Mustaf Jama in the desert two years ago, close to his warlord father’s headquarters.
The ambush of Jama’s Land Rover by 15 militiamen nearly failed when a pilot, hired to fly the captured gangster to Dubai, tried to back out, thinking that he was caught up in an anti al-Qaida operation which could bring reprisals.
He was persuaded to proceed – and the course was set which ended in Jama’s conviction in a retrial at Newcastle crown court, with a minimum 35-year term for the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, who was 38 and a mother of three with two stepchildren.
The brazen shooting took place in Bradford on 18 November 2005. Beshenivsky was killed and her colleague, PC Teresa Millburn, now 39, seriously injured when they answered an alarm call from a travel agency which specialised in sending cash overseas.
Mr Justice Openshaw said Jama was one of three “ruthless and dangerous men” who took part in the raid and who are now all serving life. It was not clear who fired at the officers, but Jama’s presence at the scene made him “as much guilty of murder” as the others, Muzzaker Shah and Jama’s younger brother Yusuf, according to the prosecution.
Three other men who acted as lookouts for the gang, which hoped to net £100,000, have also been jailed. Police and other agencies are now hunting the alleged mastermind behind the bungled robbery, Piran Ditta Khan, 60, from London, who is believed to be in Pakistan.
Successive trials heard how the gang, based in London, worked on detailed but inaccurate information from Bradford, and spent the night before the robbery drinking and taking drugs with prostitutes. Their trail was picked up by the ring of CCTV cameras surrounding the Yorkshire city, but Jama managed to flee abroad.
He denied reports at the time that he was disguised by a burka and this did not form part of the prosecution case. He was allocated Britain’s “most wanted” status and the go-ahead was given for the operation in Somalia.
Ironically, he had earlier avoided deportation to Somalia after convictions for robbery, affray and driving offences in Britain, because of the African country’s lawless state. His family came to London in 1992 when he was 12, claiming they had suffered persecution, and he was given permission to stay six years later.
Jama’s defence tried to stall the trial at a previous hearing by claiming that his seizure amounted to kidnap. His barrister, Owen Davies QC, told Mr Justice Simon at Woolwich crown court: “A very large sum of money was demanded by the requesting state in terms of costs and I still do not know what those costs represent.”
The deal was negotiated by a junior Home Office minister.
As Jama was taken from the dock, he directed a V-sign at police officers in the public gallery but otherwise showed no emotion. Beshenivsky’s widower Paul hugged Millburn as the guilty verdict was given.
His wife was the first woman police officer to be shot and killed on duty since PC Yvonne Fletcher was murdered outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.
Source:
The final member of a robbery gang who shot dead a policewoman in Bradford was jailed for life today as details emerged of a snatch operation in Somalia which brought him back to face a British court.
A judge allowed publication for the first time of a deal which saw the Foreign and Home Offices pay the African state, which has no diplomatic ties with London, to seize 29-year-old Mustaf Jama in the desert two years ago, close to his warlord father’s headquarters.
The ambush of Jama’s Land Rover by 15 militiamen nearly failed when a pilot, hired to fly the captured gangster to Dubai, tried to back out, thinking that he was caught up in an anti al-Qaida operation which could bring reprisals.
He was persuaded to proceed – and the course was set which ended in Jama’s conviction in a retrial at Newcastle crown court, with a minimum 35-year term for the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, who was 38 and a mother of three with two stepchildren.
The brazen shooting took place in Bradford on 18 November 2005. Beshenivsky was killed and her colleague, PC Teresa Millburn, now 39, seriously injured when they answered an alarm call from a travel agency which specialised in sending cash overseas.
Mr Justice Openshaw said Jama was one of three “ruthless and dangerous men” who took part in the raid and who are now all serving life. It was not clear who fired at the officers, but Jama’s presence at the scene made him “as much guilty of murder” as the others, Muzzaker Shah and Jama’s younger brother Yusuf, according to the prosecution.
Three other men who acted as lookouts for the gang, which hoped to net £100,000, have also been jailed. Police and other agencies are now hunting the alleged mastermind behind the bungled robbery, Piran Ditta Khan, 60, from London, who is believed to be in Pakistan.
Successive trials heard how the gang, based in London, worked on detailed but inaccurate information from Bradford, and spent the night before the robbery drinking and taking drugs with prostitutes. Their trail was picked up by the ring of CCTV cameras surrounding the Yorkshire city, but Jama managed to flee abroad.
He denied reports at the time that he was disguised by a burka and this did not form part of the prosecution case. He was allocated Britain’s “most wanted” status and the go-ahead was given for the operation in Somalia.
Ironically, he had earlier avoided deportation to Somalia after convictions for robbery, affray and driving offences in Britain, because of the African country’s lawless state. His family came to London in 1992 when he was 12, claiming they had suffered persecution, and he was given permission to stay six years later.
Jama’s defence tried to stall the trial at a previous hearing by claiming that his seizure amounted to kidnap. His barrister, Owen Davies QC, told Mr Justice Simon at Woolwich crown court: “A very large sum of money was demanded by the requesting state in terms of costs and I still do not know what those costs represent.”
The deal was negotiated by a junior Home Office minister.
As Jama was taken from the dock, he directed a V-sign at police officers in the public gallery but otherwise showed no emotion. Beshenivsky’s widower Paul hugged Millburn as the guilty verdict was given.
His wife was the first woman police officer to be shot and killed on duty since PC Yvonne Fletcher was murdered outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.
Source: guardian
By Martin Wainwright
Wednesday 22 July 2009
