PC Sharon Beshenivsky killer jailed over underworld guns operation

A getaway driver for the gang who shot dead PC Sharon Beshenivsky in an armed robbery has been given a life sentence with a minimum term of eight years over his role in an underworld gun business.

Faisal , 45, sold firearms and bullets to criminal gangs after his release from prison over the West Yorkshire police officer's killing in 2005.

Kingpin Thomas McKenna, 60, supplied the weapons from a workshop where he reactivated blank-firing guns on a caravan site in South Ockenden, Essex.

Prosecutors said Razzaq, who ran a luxury car hire business in Bushey, Hertfordshire, played a "central role" in the plot, which was uncovered after police bugged his car.

In one conversation he told an associate to open fire at police if he needed to escape.

"Feds try and grab you just shoot at the car, shoot in the air. I don't care where you shoot but you've got to shoot bro," he said.

He was recorded offering guns for sale for £4,000 and said: "I'll sell it to anyone, I don't give a f*** bro. We're businessmen… we don't care."

Police raided Razzaq's home on 2 September 2024 and found a pistol and eight rounds of ammunition in a bag at the bottom of a makeshift wardrobe.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell or transfer banned guns, possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life and two counts of possessing a firearm and ammunition when banned.

Sentencing Razzaq to two concurrent life sentences with a minimum term of eight years, Judge Hannah Kinch said "it is no exaggeration to say guns are a modern plague on our streets".

"Criminals use guns in order to terrorise and intimidate others, which is exactly why they are sought out and supplied," she said.

"Guns kill, they maim, they devastate the lives of not only their victims, but also all of those who love and care about those victims."

Razzaq, from east London, was granted parole on licence in 2017 after serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 11 years after being found guilty of manslaughter for his role in PC Beshenivsky's death.

The 38-year-old was shot at point-blank range on her daughter's fourth birthday when she and another unarmed colleague responded to a raid at the Universal Express travel agents on 18 November 2005.

Piran Ditta Khan, the mastermind behind the robbery, was the seventh man to be convicted over the shooting when he was found guilty of murder in 2024 after being extradited from Pakistan.

He died behind bars, aged 76 less than a year after he was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years.

Harrow Crown Court heard Razzaq met Robert Dorey, 45, in prison, who along with his brother Ricky Dorey, 44, passed guns on to Razzaq to sell.

Prosecutors said they, along with Abdul Saleh, 32, were involved in the sale of at least 10 revolvers in August 2024, while Razzaq also said he had access to Skorpion sub-machine guns.

They were sentenced alongside Patrick Loughnane, 59, who acted as a communication link between Ricky Dorey and McKenna, and Loughnane's niece Tammy Rigg, 40, who agreed to store a converted firearm at her home in South Ockendon.

All of them pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell prohibited firearms.

Ricky Dorey, who also admitted possession of an imitation firearm, driving and criminal damage offences was jailed for 10 years, while his brother was sentenced to eight years imprisonment.

Saleh was jailed for seven-and-a-half years, Rigg, who also admitted possession of a firearm and ammunition, was jailed for five years and three months, and Loughnane, was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years.

McKenna was previously jailed for 16 years after pleading guilty to firearms, explosives and terrorism offences after a court heard how he stockpiled weapons and talked of preparing for a "race war".

(c) Sky News 2026: PC Sharon Beshenivsky killer jailed over underworld guns operation