A BUS driver told last night how he alerted police twice about the gang who gunned down WPC Sharon Beshenivsky.

Dad-of-three Shahid Khan, 31, said his second warning was delivered just one day before he was forced to help hire the Toyota vehicle now thought to be involved in the policewoman's murder.

He added: "I thought the police would be waiting for me at the car hire company so they could arrest the gang." Mr Khan said he went to a police station to tell his tale after being kidnapped and made to drive the men across London.

He believed his first warning - after being stopped by officers while the men were in his car - led to a police raid on a house the gang visited.

Mr Khan said he had been terrorised by the gang for months.

He insisted: "I had no option but to help these men. They were threatening to kill me and my family. I'm still terrified of them."

Police said they were "actively seeking" three men and a source said officers have names for the suspects, believed to be asylum seekers living under false identities.

WPC Beshenivsky, 38 - a mum-of-three and stepmother of two - was shot dead as the raiders escaped from a Bradford travel agency on Friday.

Her colleague WPC Teresa Milburn, 37, was shot in the shoulder as she ran to help. Mr Khan was one of six people arrested in London.

He was held after his name was linked to the silver Toyota RAV 4 the gang are believed to have used.

He was taken to West Yorks for questioning but was released on police bail on Tuesday along with four other men. A woman - Rebecca Morris, 18 - was released without charge.

Mr Khan, of Northolt, North-West London, said the group of Somali men - one of whom once rented a room from him - demanded his clean driving licence to hire the car.

He said: "They made it clear if I didn't play ball something very bad would happen to me.

"It was a complete shock when I discovered a car hired on my licence is thought to have been used in the robbery."

Meanwhile, police said the Toyota vehicle was hired in Mr Khan's name at Heathrow Airport on October 25. Det Supt Andy Brennan said: "We are now appealing for information about a silver Toyota Rav 4 motor vehicle, registration number WP05 YTT.

"We believe the vehicle travelled to West Yorkshire from London in the early hours of Friday, November 18 and returned to London later that evening."

Met chief Sir Ian Blair was upbeat, saying he expected "significant developments" in the next 24 hours.

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