A US woman disguised in a niqab whose gun jammed during a failed assassination plot in Birmingham has been jailed for 30 years.
Aimee Betro flew to the UK before she tried to shoot Sikander Ali at point-blank range outside his home in Measham Grove, Yardley, Birmingham, shortly after 8pm on September 7 2019.
Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court found the 45-year-old graduate guilty of conspiracy to murder as well as possessing a self-loading pistol and fraudulently evading the prohibition on importing ammunition, on August 12.
The jury of six men and six women deliberated for almost 21 hours before returning its verdicts, two of which were by an 11-1 majority.
Betro, who is originally from West Allis in Wisconsin, but lived in Armenia until earlier this year, took part in a plot orchestrated by co-conspirators Mohammed Aslam, 56, and his son Mohammed Nabil Nazir, 31, to attack a rival family.
Wearing a white top, black cardigan and her hair in plaits in the dock on Thursday, Betro showed no emotion as Judge Simon Drew KC jailed her for 30 years, with concurrent sentences of six years for possessing a firearm and two years for evading the prohibition.
He said: “You went beyond simply reaching an agreement to kill and, in reality, you did intend to kill Mr Ali. It is only a matter of chance that Mr Ali wasn’t killed.
“You were engaged in a complex, well-planned conspiracy to murder. You were prepared to pull the trigger and did so on two separate occasions.”
Prosecution counsel Tom Walkling KC told Betro’s trial that she met Nazir, who lived in Derby, on a dating app.
Judge Drew said that while it was not clear when Nazir “recruited” Betro to take part in his revenge scheme, it appeared she was “acting out of infatuation or love”.
Both men were jailed last year by the same judge for their part in the bungled assassination plot, which was the culmination of a long-running feud with Mr Ali’s father, Aslat Mahumad.
Mr Walkling said “revenge was the motive” after Nazir and Aslam were injured during disorder at Mr Mahumad’s clothing boutique in Birmingham in July 2018, which led them to conspire to have someone kill him or a member of his family.
Judge Drew said: “I’m quite satisfied that was the motive and motivation for what took place in September of 2019.
“In particular, Aslam and Nazir planned a revenge attack on Mr Mahumad and his family, and you were recruited to conduct what was intended to be an execution.”
Betro’s three-week trial was told she met Nazir online in late 2018 and then communicated with him on Snapchat before flying into the UK on Christmas Day of the same year.
She told the court she slept with Nazir at an Airbnb in London before returning to the US in January 2019.
During a two-week follow-up visit to Britain in May 2019, Betro told jurors she did not see Nazir at all, instead visiting a friend in Birmingham and staying at “someone’s house in the middle of England to take care of their dog”.
Records show the graphic design and childhood education graduate landed at Manchester Airport on a flight from Atlanta on August 22 2019, two weeks before the attempted killing of Mr Ali.
Betro was caught on CCTV at and near the scene of the failed attempt to shoot Mr Ali, who was able to flee in his car after the gun jammed.
The would-be killer, who had waited in a Mercedes car for around 45 minutes for Mr Ali to arrive, then used a “burner” phone to send Mr Ali’s father messages reading “Where are you hiding?” and “stop playing hide and seek, you are lucky it jammed”.
Security camera footage also captured her return to the scene hours later, when she aimed three shots through two front upstairs windows at Mr Ali’s family home.
The damaged Mercedes was later found dumped, leading to the discovery of a black glove with Betro’s DNA on it.
Betro told the court she flew into the UK to celebrate her 40th birthday and knew nothing of any shooting or plot by the time she returned to the US.
She also attempted to explain away evidence against her by claiming the woman caught on CCTV wielding a gun and recorded booking taxis was “another American woman” known to Nazir who had a similar voice and footwear.
Nazir was jailed for 32 years in November 2024 for offences including conspiracy to murder, while Aslam was sentenced to 10 years.
The men, both of Elms Avenue, Derby, denied any wrongdoing but were convicted after a trial also held at Birmingham Crown Court.
Addressing Betro, Judge Drew said: “So far as you are concerned clearly you had a leading role. I accept that Nazir recruited you, but you were the gunwoman.
“You were the person who was prepared to fire the gun, as a result you showed that were willing to carry out the killing yourself.
“Furthermore, this was a conspiracy to murder more than one person.”
Defending Betro, Paul Lewis KC said she would find custody in the UK difficult because her loved ones are still in the US and urged the judge to give her credit for the 198 days she had spent on remand in Armenia awaiting extradition before her trial.
He said: “She has apparently been a model prisoner on remand. She is likely to find incarceration particularly difficult because all her family and friends are in America and she has had very few visits except for her lawyers.”
Speaking to Betro, Judge Drew said: “So far as mitigation is concerned, I take into account your antecedent history, your age, the fact that you will serve some or all of your sentence in a UK prison, far away from home, and the contents of your letter in which you express remorse for your actions.”
