The daughter of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky said she hopes to “really find peace” ahead of the sentencing of the mastermind behind the armed robbery that led to the death of her mother.
Piran Ditta Khan was convicted earlier this month, almost 20 years after PC Beshenivsky was killed while interrupting a raid at family-run Universal Express travel agents in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in November 2005.
She and her colleague, Pc Teresa Milburn, who were both unarmed, were shot at point-blank range by one of the three men who had just carried out the robbery as he emerged from the door of the business.
Khan was the last of the seven men involved in the robbery to be convicted.
Speaking to ITV, PC Beshenivsky’s daughter, Lydia, said there will be “relief” when Khan is sentenced.
“There’s relief that he’s actually going to be behind bars, but that doesn’t really change my heart and fix the hole in my heart is forever going to be like that.
“But on the day of the sentencing, I will be glad to see the back of them.
“With everything that was going on, I couldn’t find the words to put on the headstone. I don’t think any of us could, but hopefully, after all this is finished, we will get a headstone and really find some peace.”
Ms Beshenivsky’s mother died on her fourth birthday, and she said she usually spends her birthday in Bradford at her mother’s memorial.
“My dad was waiting for her to come like everybody else. Then a car pulled up at the top of the drive, and I actually thought that it was my mum coming home.”
“The party went on; they just wanted to keep me busy, I think. Keep it going. To be honest with you, every other birthday, it’s been about my birthday. Not about the death.”
“I find it hard to this day to celebrate my birthday,” Ms Beshenivsky added.
“I do normally go down to Bradford with the police at the memorial and spend my time there.”
Ms Beshenivsky said she has found help through her hobby of working with horses to help her through the loss of her mother.
“I found myself a hobby that I enjoyed, which is working with the horses and that pulled me away from being pulled down and drained by everything and, I mean, I was in this tunnel of darkness for 19 years.
“I had every obstacle thrown at me that I had to jump over basically by myself.”
Khan was convicted of murder and was found guilty of two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
He was unanimously convicted of two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon, and he pleaded guilty to robbery.
His sentencing is due in May.