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Trans officer's alleged rape victim so young she liked teddies, court told

Trans officer's alleged rape victim so young she liked teddies, court told

Telegraph8 hours ago
A transgender volunteer police officer allegedly told his victim he wanted to rape her despite her being 'so young' she was still interested teddy bears, a court has heard.
Amersham Law Courts heard that James Bubb, who now identifies as a woman named Gwyn Samuels but will be referred to by his biological sex throughout the trial, was violent towards the complainant when taking her virginity while in her early teens.
In a police interview played to the court on Tuesday, the alleged victim told officers that at the age of 12, the defendant, who was 21, looked 'paranoid' when the pair were out in public together.
The complainant met Bubb on Omegle, a video-chat site for strangers, in 2018. She spoke of how she was 'frozen' when the now-27-year-old defendant attempted to engage in sexual activity in public shortly before her 13th birthday.
She reportedly told the defendant she was five years older than she actually was when they first met, but insisted he knew she was underage.
The complainant told police of their first in-person meeting at a Christian festival where Bubb, who was working as a volunteer steward at the time, made remarks about going into her tent and having sex with her.
She spoke of how the pair met up away from other festival-goers and said her colour-coded child wristband was clearly on show.
'I remember being scared'
The alleged victim said: 'He was really paranoid, looking around constantly. We were in a relationship in my eyes but I was being hidden whenever we were in public.
'He made remarks in person about when it was dark… about coming into my tent and having sex with me.
'I was actually so young at that point that I had a teddy bear in my tent. He knew at the time that I was very much interested in things like teddies.'
Addressing how she felt when the defendant spoke of going into her tent, she continued: 'I said I wasn't comfortable with that… and I believe he sent me a text on Snapchat at that point and he said he was probably going to come into my tent either way – maybe while I was sleeping.
'I remember being scared that night.'
The complainant went on to speak about how when the pair started having sex, Bubb was violent.
She said: 'He had his hands around my throat. I tried to get words out but they weren't coming out as easily.'
She told the officer that sometimes the defendant was 'hitting me during sex… sometimes he would punch me'.
'He would also make remarks about raping me,' she added. 'He told me I enjoyed being raped and when I said no, he didn't stop and that's when he made these specific remarks.'
The defendant has denied one count of rape in relation to one complainant and two counts of rape, two counts of sexual activity with a child, one count of assault of a child under 13 by penetration, one count of rape of a child under 13 and one count of assault by penetration in relation to the other complainant.
All charges are alleged to have taken place between Jan 1 2018 to April 2 2024.
The defendant, of High Street, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, denies all charges.
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American tried to assassinate her lover's enemy on Birmingham street wearing flip-flops and a summer dress - then the Daily Mail tracked the fugitive down
American tried to assassinate her lover's enemy on Birmingham street wearing flip-flops and a summer dress - then the Daily Mail tracked the fugitive down

Daily Mail​

time14 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

American tried to assassinate her lover's enemy on Birmingham street wearing flip-flops and a summer dress - then the Daily Mail tracked the fugitive down

Grinning for the camera while holding a sign supporting her beloved American football team, the woman hardly looks like an assassin – let alone one operating in the UK. Yet Aimee Betro, 45, was found guilty on Tuesday of travelling 4,000 miles from her Wisconsin home to carry out a 'hit' on a man in Birmingham. Extraordinarily, the naive American received no payment for the shooting despite apparently struggling for money. Her motive? She was prepared to kill for love after becoming infatuated with a British petty criminal she met through a dating app. Betro, wearing a niqab to disguise herself, pointed a gun at her victim's head outside his home in Yardley and pulled the trigger. The pistol jammed, allowing her target, Sikander Ali, 33, to flee. But Betro wasn't finished, returning hours later to fire three shots through the windows of his home. Police said it was only by chance no one was killed. After the botched hit in September 2019, Betro returned to the US before going on the run in Armenia until the Daily Mail tracked her down in June last year and told the police of her whereabouts, leading to her arrest and return to the UK for trial. She denied all charges, telling her trial it was a 'terrible coincidence' she was around the corner six minutes after the shooting and it must have been another 'fat American woman' who bought the Mercedes used in the attack. Indeed, wearing a summer dress and flip-flops, Betro looked more like a relaxed tourist heading to the beach than a determined assassin in CCTV footage from after the attempt on Mr Ali's life. But jurors at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday found her guilty of conspiracy to murder, meaning the full story of how the American became caught up in a feud between two rival families in the Midlands can now be told in full for the first time. Betro showed no emotion as the verdicts were delivered, and her friends were unable to explain how she became embroiled in the bizarre murder plot. One told the Daily Mail she was the 'last person' they'd pick to kill someone, although another hinted at motivation when he said: 'She's either got brainwashed in some romance thing or she's been framed... it would be completely out of character.' Betro was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and her mother Jeanne Johnson, 64, and father Steven Betro, a convicted methamphetamine dealer, separated when she was young. She attended Stevens Point Area Senior High School and went on to study early childhood education at Mid-State Technical College in Wisconsin. A series of low paid jobs followed her graduation. She then worked as an administrator, selling tickets for her beloved Milwaukee Brewers Major League Baseball team. She lived a relatively normal existence until September 2018, when she met someone on a dating app who went by the name 'Dr Ice'. That man was Mohammed Nabil Nazir, now 31, from Derby. Betro was apparently smitten and soon began planning a two-week trip to the UK. She arrived in London on Christmas Day 2018, staying in an Airbnb in King's Cross and other hotels across the capital – although it is unclear how she funded the visit. Quizzed by her barrister Paul Lewis KC, she described how she did typical 'tourist stuff' – but also met Nazir, who is more than ten years her junior, for the first time when he visited her at the Airbnb and spent the night with her. It was the only time they ever slept together but it seems this encounter was all it took to turn Betro into a would-be hitwoman the following year. 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The court heard that far from being an unfortunate coincidence, the crash was part of an insurance scam orchestrated by Nazir, who fled the scene while Betro was on the phone to the AA, claiming she had been the one driving. It is not known if the other two were aware of the scam but prosecutor Tom Walkling KC said Betro was well aware, with the plot being evidence she was in love with Nazir and 'happy to break the law if that is what he wanted'. Mr Walkling asked Betro: 'Do you think with hindsight that Nazir was taking advantage of you?' She replied simply: 'I don't know.' After the crash, she checked into a hotel in Derby hoping to spend the following day – her birthday – with Nazir, but he said he was too busy and so she spent it wandering the city alone. Mr Walkling asked: 'Are we right in thinking you had gone to Derby for your birthday just to see Mr Nazir because you loved him?' She replied: 'Yes'. Mr Walkling went on: 'Were you still in love with Mr Nazir given how he had treated you [after the crash]?' Betro answered: 'I still cared for him, yes.' Days later, she checked into the Rotunda hotel in Birmingham using a fake name and tried to lure shopowner Mr Mahumad into meeting her on the pretence of buying a car he was selling. When that failed, she bought a second-hand Mercedes and drove to Measham Grove, in the Yardley area of Birmingham, where Mr Mahumad lived with his family, including his son, Sikander Ali. CCTV footage captured the moment Betro pulled up outside the home, where moments later Mr Ali arrived in a black SUV. Betro got out of the car and approached him with her gun drawn. She pulled the trigger but the weapon jammed, giving Mr Ali the chance to jump back into his car and speed away. 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He and his father were jailed last year, both found guilty of conspiracy to murder but with Nazir also convicted of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and doing acts intending to pervert the course of justice. He was sentenced to 32 years while Aslam was jailed for ten. But Betro evaded authorities for five years – despite an international warrant for her arrest – until she was tracked down to a bolthole in Armenia thanks to investigations by the Daily Mail. Informing West Midlands Police of her location, the Daily Mail agreed to a news blackout until she was arrested to avoid her fleeing again before she could be extradited to the UK for trial. While giving evidence, she claimed it was 'another American woman' who booked taxis after the shooting and denied any involvement. But her DNA was found on a glove in the Mercedes and the gun used was a rare American Hi-Point C9 pistol – which has not been seen by experts in this country before or since the attempted murder. Police still do not know how she got the gun – it was never recovered and was only identified by ballistic experts. The prosecution raised the possibility of it being smuggled from the US, but did not know exactly how. Because Betro was extradited under a 'red notice' (a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and arrest a person) she was immediately charged and remanded in custody rather than being first arrested and interviewed, meaning she was never questioned by police. Meanwhile, Nazir gave only 'no comment' answers during his police interview. The pair also communicated largely by Snapchat, where messages disappear after being sent, so what they discussed may never be revealed. Nazir and his father's bank records were examined and found to have no evidence of payments to Betro. In fact, she had even paid for Nazir's return ticket to the US after the botched hit. Detective Chief Inspector Alastair Orencas from West Midlands Police said her motivation was that she was 'in love or infatuated with him' and that it was only through luck or incompetence that Mr Ali was not dead. 'It would have been a point-blank discharge of a self-loading pistol,' he said. 'I have no doubt whatsoever that if that gun had discharged at that point he would have died. It strikes me that it was a well-planned, persistent murderous attempt to take someone's life.' He said she was 'on the face of it, a normal-looking individual [but] prepared to do an outrageous, audacious and persistent murder'. Nor was her involvement 'off-the-cuff madness' but pre-planned with others across continents, he added. 'I think [she] has had a somewhat problematic relationship with the truth in not accepting what she was accused of.' 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Swimmer in his 30s dies after being pulled from sea at popular UK beach just days after woman died at same resort
Swimmer in his 30s dies after being pulled from sea at popular UK beach just days after woman died at same resort

The Sun

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Swimmer in his 30s dies after being pulled from sea at popular UK beach just days after woman died at same resort

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Prince Andrew 'barks foul-mouthed question at builders' as speed humps are installed near his palatial home
Prince Andrew 'barks foul-mouthed question at builders' as speed humps are installed near his palatial home

Daily Mail​

time14 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Prince Andrew 'barks foul-mouthed question at builders' as speed humps are installed near his palatial home

Prince Andrew confronted builders installing speed bumps outside his palatial home with a foul-mouthed rant, it has been reported. The disgraced Duke of York, 65, allegedly barked 'what the f*** are you doing now?' at workers putting in the sleeping policemen across the 4,800-acre Windsor Great Park estate. It is understood he was riding his horse when the conversation took place and was around one mile from Royal Lodge, where he has lived for the past 20 years. An insider told The Sun: 'The worker was just going about his job when Andrew, on one of his regular rides round the estate, came along and looked down from up high and said 'what the f*** are you doing now?' 'Andrew likes to drive his car out of Royal Lodge quite fast and is obviously a bit peeved as one of the speed humps is even right by the gate out of the park. 'No one likes speed humps but he will hardly feel them in his massive anyway.' 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