Extradited US woman Aimee Betro guilty of attempted assassination in Birmingham
Aimee Betro has been convicted at Birmingham Crown Court of conspiracy to murder in relation to a failed assassination plot in the city in September 2019.
The 45-year-old, originally from Wisconsin, was accused of being involved in a conspiracy which saw a man threatened with a firearm in the South Yardley area of Birmingham.
Jurors deliberated for almost 21 hours before convicting Betro of conspiracy to murder, possessing a self-loading pistol with intent to cause fear of violence, and a charge of illegally importing ammunition.
Betro, wearing a purple T-shirt and with her hair in space buns, showed no obvious reaction and stared towards the jury bench as the verdicts were returned.
She was found guilty by majority 11-1 verdicts on the conspiracy to murder and firearm charges, and by a unanimous verdict on the ammunition charge.
Prosecutors alleged Betro, who was living in Armenia until earlier this year, flew to Britain in August 2019 to take part in a plot orchestrated by co-conspirators Mohammed Aslam, 56, and his son Mohammed Nabil Nazir, 31, to attack a family they had been feuding with.
The graduate hid her face using a niqab when she got out of a Mercedes and tried to shoot Sikander Ali at point-blank range outside his home in Measham Grove in South Yardley.
Birmingham Crown Court was told the attempted shooting took place shortly after 8pm on September 7, 2019, but the handgun jammed, allowing Mr Ali to flee in his car.
Betro is also alleged to have returned to Measham Grove in a taxi around five hours later, and to have fired three rounds at the windows of the intended victim's property.
'All just a terrible coincidence', Aimee Betro tells jury
The prosecution said 'revenge was the motive' after Nazir and Aslam, from Elms Avenue in Derby, were injured during disorder at Mr Ali's father Aslat 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.
Betro had suggested to jurors earlier that the perpetrator was 'another American woman' who sounded similar to her, used the same phone and wore the same sort of trainers.
She told jurors it was 'all just a terrible coincidence' that she was around the corner from the scene of the attempted assassination six minutes later.
Betro also said that a woman described as having an American accent and being "small and fat", and who bought a vehicle linked to the plot, was not her.
She claimed she had 'no reason or motive' to carry out the shooting, and that did not know the intended victim's family.
She also told the jury she flew to Britain to celebrate her birthday and attend a boat party, having met Nazir on a dating app. She had previously travelled to the UK to meet him.
Betro, who was arrested last summer in Armenia, was also charged with possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and a charge related to the alleged importation of ammunition into the UK.
She was flown into Gatwick Airport in January by specialist National Extradition Unit officers from the National Crime Agency's (NCA) Joint International Crime Centre (JICC).
Betro will be sentenced on Thursday 21 August.
Defence barrister Paul Lewis KC said he was not asking for pre-sentence reports as they would not assist the court.
Judge Simon Drew KC told the court: "I suspect Miss Betro would like to know the outcome of this case and there is nothing worse than sitting waiting."
Betro also showed no emotion as she was remanded in custody and led away to the cells.
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