Pc killers face sentence hike

The 37-year-old mother was shot dead on the day of her daughter's birthday when she responded to an alarm call at a travel agent in Bradford, West Yorkshire, as her shift was ending.

Her colleague, Pc Teresa Milburn, was also gunned down in the street and seriously wounded as the robbers escaped with little more than £5,000.

Following a trial last year Muzzaker Shah was told he must serve a minimum of 35 years in prison before he is considered for release after he admitted murdering the Bradford officer. Faisal Razzaq was also given a life sentence and told he must serve at least 11 years when he was found guilty of manslaughter at Newcastle Crown Court.

But the pair now face further sentencing after they pleaded guilty to four counts of illegally possessing firearms. Shah and Razzaq were on police bail when they took part in the bungled armed robbery in Bradford on November 18 2005.

The previous year, in August, police had caught them, along with a third defendant, hurling a bag full of guns from their car in a high-speed chase on the M40 and M25.

Last year's trial at Newcastle Crown Court was told of the firearms offences and the fact the men were on bail at the time of the murder but reporting restrictions, lifted on Monday, meant the details could not be revealed previously.

Pc Beshenivsky's widower, Paul, said on Monday the judicial system and prison overcrowding meant lots of offenders get bail while waiting to hear their fate. He added: "Hopefully they are not coming out for a long time. They deserve everything they get."

Helder De Silva, 24, of Colindale, north London, who had no involvement in the murder trial, and Shah, 26, of Kenton, Middlesex on Monday pleaded guilty at Reading Crown Court to four charges of possessing prohibited weapons in August 2004. Razzaq, 25, of Forest Gate, east London had entered a guilty plea at an earlier hearing in January.

The three men now face sentencing by Judge Zoe Smith at the same court on Friday.