U.S. woman jailed for 30 years in U.K. for failed assassination plot

A view of the Royal Courts Of Justice, in London, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

London, United Kingdom -- An English court on Thursday handed an American woman a 30-year jail sentence after she was convicted of trying to murder a British man caught up in a feud between families.

After a years-long police hunt, would-be assassin Aimee Betro, 45, was extradited earlier this year from Armenia, where she had been living, to face trial in the central English city of Birmingham.

Prosecutors told the court Betro had covered her face with a niqab before climbing out of a car in September 2019 and trying to shoot Sikander Ali at point-blank range in his own car.

But the handgun jammed and Ali drove away at high-speed. Hours later Betro returned to the house, and fired three shots at his family home, the court heard.

Sentencing Betro, Judge Simon Drew told her it was only a “matter of chance” that Ali had not been killed.

“You were engaged in a complex, well-planned conspiracy to murder,” he added. “You were prepared to pull the trigger and did so on two separate occasions.”

Prosecutors said Betro was part of a plot with co-conspirators Mohammed Aslam, 56, and his 31-year-old son, Mohammed Nabil Nazir.

Betro had met Nazir on an online dating site, and told the jury she was in love with him.

Both men were jailed last year for their roles in the “violent” feud which erupted after they were injured in a brawl at Ali’s father’s clothing store in July 2018.

Graphic design graduate Betro did not know Ali and denied three charges including conspiracy to murder and possessing a self-loading pistol. She said she had no knowledge of the plot.

Betro, who is originally from Wisconsin, told jurors it was “just a terrible coincidence” that she had been close to the scene of the attack.

She maintained the real shooter was “another American woman” who sounded similar to her and had the same phone and brand of trainers.

Police said they had seen no evidence that Betro was paid for her role in the attack.

AFP