PC killers fail to win sentence cut

The Court of Appeal in London rejected argument on behalf of Muzzaker Shah, 26, and Yusuf Jamma, 21, who killed the 38-year-old during an armed robbery, that the terms were "manifestly excessive".

Lord Justice Latham, sitting with Mr Justice Cooke and Mr Justice Cranston, also dismissed an application by Jamma, of Whitmore Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, for leave to appeal against conviction.

The judge said the proceedings arose "out of what became a notorious robbery which occurred on November 18, 2005, which resulted in the death of a woman police constable and the serious wounding of another".

The two women were shot after they were called to a robbery at a travel agents in Bradford.

Rejecting applications to appeal against sentence, Lord Justice Latham said the trial judge at Newcastle Crown Court could not be criticised for the course he took in a case with "substantial aggravating features".

Pc Beshenivsky was shot and killed as she arrived at the scene in Bradford city centre on the day of her youngest daughter's fourth birthday.

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

Pc Beshenivsky was the first woman officer to be shot dead on duty since Yvonne Fletcher was shot outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.

The minimum term is the least number of years an offender must spend behind bars before an application for release can be made to the parole board.