Expert's evidence tells of tests on cartridges
THE bullet which killed a Bradford policewoman passed through the edge of her body armour, a court has heard.
Pc Sharon Beshenivsky, 38, was hit in the chest as she and colleague Pc Teresa Milburn responded to a report of an armed robbery at the Universal Express travel agents in the city on November 18 last year.
Pc Milburn was also shot in the chest.
But she survived and has given evidence at the trial of five men accused of murdering her colleague.
Ballistics expert Philip Alexander told Newcastle Crown Court that the fatal bullet passed through the corner of the West Yorkshire Police badge on Pc Beshenivsky's body armour.
It hit her from above and the left as she ducked, the forensic scientist told the jury.
"It only passed through the shell of the garment, not the bullet-resistant material," he added.
Dr Alexander has studied cartridges, casings and bullet cores. He said he believes the same weapon was used to shoot the two policewomen and to fire a third shot, which was aimed at and hit the nearby Grove Library.
Yusuf Abdillh Jamma, 20, of Whitmore Road, Small Heath, Birmingham; Raza Ul-Haq Aslam, 25, of St Pancras Way, Kentish Town, north London; Faisal Razzaq, 25, and his brother Hassan, 26, both of Sebert Road, Forest Gate, east London, all deny murdering Pc Beshenivsky.
Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah, 25, of no fixed address, has pleaded guilty to her murder.
But the court has been told that he denies pulling the trigger of the gun that killed the officer.
The case continues.
