Strike forces wait for Pc killers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/bradford/6970455.stm

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Two men who murdered a police woman and then allegedly stabbed a prison inmate have had their court hearing postponed because of the prison officers' strike.

Yusuf Abdillh Jamma and Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah were jailed after the shooting of Bradford Pc Sharon Beshenivsky in 2005.

Both are accused of stabbing a man at Durham's Frankland Prison in March.

They were due to appear in court via video-link on Thursday but the strike action meant that Shah was not taken to a jail with video-link facilities.

Surprise walkout

Shah, 26, from Kenton, north-west London, and Jamma, 20, of Small Heath, Birmingham, murdered Pc Beshenivsky during a bungled robbery in Bradford in November 2005.

They are charged with attacking a fellow prisoner at high security Frankland Prison.

Following the charges both were transferred from Frankland Prison to separate jails.

Sharon Beshenivsky had been a police officer for nine months

Their alleged victim was a 22-year-old from the North West who was serving life for murder.

Shah and Jamma, who are both serving life sentences, are charged with wounding with intent and were due to appear before Peterlee Magistrates' Court, in County Durham, via video links.

Shah, currently in Full Sutton Prison, near York, was supposed to have been taken to another jail with link-up facilities ahead of Thursday's preliminary hearing, but that had not been possible.

The defendants have to appear simultaneously so the court adjourned the hearing until Monday.

All 129 non-private prisons in England and Wales suffered disruption on Wednesday after a surprise walkout by some 20,000 prison officers in a row over pay.