Detectives believe Aimee Betro had a determined and settled intention to kill even before she flew to the UK to join her partner’s murder plot.
Speaking after Betro was convicted of conspiracy to murder at Birmingham Crown Court, Detective Chief Inspector Alastair Orencas said only a malfunction of her pistol or a “rogue” bullet had prevented Betro from shooting Sikander Ali.
Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court deliberated for almost 21 hours before finding Betro guilty of conspiracy to murder, possessing a self-loading pistol and a charge of fraudulently evading the prohibition on importing ammunition.
The childhood development and graphic design graduate, who denied all the charges, flew into Britain to take part in a plot orchestrated by co-conspirators Mohammed Nabil Nazir, 31, and Mohammed Aslam, 56, to shoot dead Aslat Mahumad following an altercation in a shop.
Betro, 45, from Wisconsin, was caught on CCTV as she tried to shoot Mr Ali, Mr Mahumad’s son, in Measham Grove, Yardley, Birmingham, in September 2019.
Commenting on Betro’s conviction, Mr Orencas said of the assassination attempt: “Whether the slider is jammed or it’s a rogue round, it has failed to discharge that firearm.”
Asked about Betro’s use of false names to book herself into hotels and to buy a car before the assassination attempt, Mr Orencas said he believed Betro knew of the murder plot before she jetted in from the United States more than a fortnight beforehand.
The officer said: “I think this is a carefully planned, persistent, murderous plot. It’s unbelievable to me that that would be conceived without careful lengthy planning.”
But he said of the actual shooting bid: “It’s a brazen attempt. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of effort to avoid detection. I think she fell foul of a really slick, dynamic law enforcement operation over here.
“I don’t know whether that was her perspective from America that that’s how we operate – but (there is) zero tolerance around firearms criminality on these shores.”
Betro was convicted on “overwhelming” evidence, the senior officer said, adding that she had “a troublesome relationship with the truth” in giving her account of what happened.
Betro’s use of a niqab to hide her face “didn’t work very well” as “the footwear didn’t change, phones didn’t change” and various CCTV cameras caught her in the area of the shooting, Mr Orencas said.
“It was a fairly poor attempt (at disguise) and again, whether or not the attitude was that the British police wouldn’t be up to it, I think she was fatally flawed, if that was ever the consideration in her mind,” Mr Orencas noted.
Thanking the Daily Mail for its investigation that tracked down Betro’s hideout in Armenia in summer 2024, the detective chief inspector continued: “There were parallel inquiries going on but, without a doubt, the Daily Mail were of great assistance.
“And I’ll say thank you on record to the Daily Mail with regard to that.”
Mr Orencas added: “I think the tenacity of the investigation team has been outstanding to the point where we had officers, that were coming towards the end of their service, retire and come back as civilian investigators.
“And they’ve stuck in right to the end because they were so passionate about getting justice, really, for the family, but the broader community in the West Midlands who simply won’t tolerate firearms criminality.”
