Shot policewoman tells of colleague's murder

· PC weeps as she testifies at Beshenivsky trial
· Gunman was Asian male, not black, court is told
A policewoman shot in the chest and coughing up blood managed to dictate a description of the gunman who attacked her and killed her colleague, a court heard yesterday. PC Teresa Milburn wiped away tears as a jury was told of the "milliseconds" which saw PC Sharon Beshenivsky murdered, and a sudden "immense pain" as the killer then shot PC Milburn, after both officers answered a burglar alarm.

PC Milburn, 37, activated a "code zero" alert - meaning that a fellow officer needed urgent help - with her radio panic button before collapsing in a central Bradford street where a gang had allegedly taken over a travel agency, Newcastle crown court heard. When colleagues arrived to find blood seeping from her mouth and nose, she told them to get a pen and paper. "Write this down," she said and gave a description of an Asian man who she said had fired the gun.

PC Milburn was allowed to leave the witness box for a break when she began crying under cross-examination about how PC Beshenivsky, 38 and a mother of three, had been killed.

She said that a silent alarm had been routed to their patrol car, and when they arrived at the Universal Express travel agency in Morley Street two street wardens told them the business was locked and that something seemed to be wrong.

Both officers went to the door, PC Beshenivsky in front. PC Milburn told detectives after the tragedy: "She stopped, stopped dead. She stopped that quickly I overstepped her, behind her. There was an almighty bang. I saw her head, it goes to the right then to the left and flops. Her arms flop to her side and her body drops in front of me. Her knees go to the left and she goes down in front of me."

Ms Milburn said that she saw the gunman for about four seconds. "I got a view of an Asian male. About five feet eight, five 10; he had black hair, wavy slightly, brushed to the right. I could see his forearm and his arm from his elbow and his hand extended to 90 degrees, pointing to where Sharon was stood. He had a black, smooth gun. It went across the top of his hand, had a small step at the end of it."

She added: "I saw the hole in the end of the gun. And I heard a bang." Asked by Robert Smith QC, prosecuting, where the gun was pointing, she replied: "Directly at me."

Yusuf Abdillh Jamma, 20, of Small Heath, Birmingham; Raza Ul-Haq Aslam, 25, of Kentish Town, north London; and Faisal Razzaq, 25, and his 26-year-old brother Hassan, both of Forest Gate, east London, all deny PC Beshenivsky's murder. Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah, 25, of no fixed address, has pleaded guilty to her murder, but denies firing the shot that killed her. He also denies the attempted murder of PC Milburn.

The defendants sat in the court's glass-encased secure dock with 12 prison officers as PC Milburn gave her evidence.

Questioned by Diana Ellis QC, defending Mr Shah, Ms Milburn repeatedly denied that she was mistaken in identifying an Asian as the gunman rather than "a black male in dark clothing" whom she had also described. She had told the court earlier that she was experienced at distinguishing between ethnic groups. She said there had been two men in the agency doorway, one black and one Asian.

Asked by Mr Smith which one had shot her, she said: "The Asian male." She denied that she had made notes before giving evidence to detectives or had "filled in any gaps".

The court also heard that PC Milburn had later visited the murder scene with her husband, son and colleagues. Under re-examination by Mr Smith, she said: "I wanted to see where members of the public had put the flowers. I wanted to make sure the street wardens were OK, and I wanted to give thanks to the Afro-Caribbean woman [who helped PC Milburn after she was shot]."

PC Martin Kitson told the jury that he had run 800 yards from Bradford's central police station after getting the Code Zero call. He tried to comfort Ms Milburn who gave him the gunman's description. He noted in abbreviated form: "Asian male, black hair, black jacket, right handed, no glasses. Haven't got a clue about the gun." The trial continues.

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