The leading detective in charge of investigating the murder of Bradford PC Sharon Beshenivsky has been appointed to head the region’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team (HMET).

After the officer was shot dead during an armed raid on a Bradford travel agents by a criminal gang, Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Brennan helped bring to justice three men, one of whom was the first person ever to be extradited to the UK from Somalia.

Det Ch Supt Brennan also led the investigation into the disappearance of Dewsbury schoolgirl Shannon Matthews, whose mother was convicted of her kidnap along with co-conspirator Michael Donovan in 2008.

He said: “It was a team West Yorkshire effort. To get her back alive and well was fantastic.”

Det Ch Supt Brennan joined the police in 1986, rising through the ranks of the Greater Manchester force’s CID unit. He was made a Detective Superintendent in West Yorkshire in 2004 and was instrumental in the creation of HMET, which was set up in April, 2005.

He said: “We realised we could do things more efficiently by having a dedicated unit.

“Whenever there used to be a murder, I would turn up, make a phone call and suddenly all divisions in West Yorkshire would have to provide me with staff. That might take a day and a half to get a full team together.

“Now we have fewer people doing it who are highly skilled and trained.

“We have developed really well. We are now a dedicated team and can really make savings and improve the way we perform by having fewer people trained to a higher level.”

Det Ch Supt Brennan is the only police officer trained to level four in the Professionalising Investigation Programme, run by the National Policing Improvement Agency. He is one of only five officers in the country to be trained to that level.

Now 46, the new HMET chief grew up in Manchester. He has been married for 22 years and has a son and a daughter.

Det Ch Supt Brennan described his recent appointment as “a career ambition come true”.

He replaces Detective Chief Superintendent Max McLean.