THE alleged mastermind of an armed robbery was eating sandwiches in a lookout car when two police officers were shot, a court has heard.

Unarmed police constables Sharon Beshenivsky, from Keighley, and Teresa Milburn were shot at point-blank range as they responded to a raid at Universal Express travel agents in Bradford in November, 2005.

PC Beshenivsky, 38, died from her injuries while PC Milburn was shot in the chest and survived.

Leeds Crown Court has heard a total of seven men were involved in carrying out the raid, with alleged ringleader Piran Ditta Khan the last to face trial almost two decades on.

Khan, 75, told the court he was in a Mercedes SLK with one of his fellow robbers, Hassan Razzaq, while the raid was being carried out.

He has told jurors Razzaq, whom he met through a business acquaintance, had offered to help him get back £12,000 he was owed by Mohammad Yousaf, the owner of Universal Express.

Khan says he thought the men Razzaq sent to get the money would “intimidate” the staff there but denied knowing a robbery was going to take place, or that guns would be used.

The defendant said he and Razzaq were eating sandwiches just before driving away from the scene following the robbery.

Khan said he did not know two police officers had been shot until the group returned to a house in Leeds where they had stayed the night before.

Prosecutor Robert Smith KC asked Khan about a call made from one of the other robbers to Razzaq just after 3.30pm – when Razzaq and Khan were in the car together and the two officers were “lying on the pavement outside Universal Express”.

Khan stated he did not hear anything said in the call.

The defendant said when they got back to the house "they were panicking".

Asked what the group was doing at the house for an hour before leaving, Khan said: “There were no celebrations.”

He denied having organised the events that day, including where the cars would be parked during the robbery, saying: “It wasn’t my planning. All I knew was I needed my money and they were to get that for me.”

Khan denies murder, two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon. He has pleaded guilty to robbery.

The trial continues.