An American woman, who was hired as an assassin by her British lover, lost the attack and spent five years fleeing, committed a crime of conspiracy to murder.
Amy Betro, 44, of Wisconsin, tried to shoot a dead man at his home in Birmingham, England on September 7, 2019, but failed after a gun got stuck.
Betro was convicted Tuesday at Birmingham Crown Court after lawsuits involving multiple criminal institutions, including the FBI and national criminal institutions.
The court heard that despite living thousands of miles away, Betro was caught up in a family revenge plot arranged by father and son Mohammed Aslam and Mohammed Nazir from Derbyshire, England.
The plot comes from a 2018 battle with the owner of a Birmingham clothing store.
The court heard how the dispute with store owner Asurat Mahmad conspired to kill him, or a member of his family, the UK’s PA Media News reported.
His son, Sikandar Ali, was the ultimate target and victim, according to the PA. Aslam and Nazir were jailed last year for roles in a murder group, West Midlands police said in a statement. According to CPS, Aslam landed for 10 years, but Nazir was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
“Only Betro knows that she was really motivated or that it means that she travels hundreds of miles from Wisconsin to Birmingham and carry out an assault on a man she didn’t know.
In a three-week trial, the court heard that Betro met his girlfriend Nazir in late 2018 on a dating app and reported that he met him in person that Christmas before returning to the US in January 2019.
In August 2019, she traveled again to the UK and committed a planned murder the following month. On the day of the attack, Betro disguised himself as a nikab and waited outside the victim’s house at a Mercedes, which he purchased earlier that day, CPS said.
When the man pulled into his home in a black SUV, CCTV captured Betro, grabbed her car, a firearm, and tried to shoot the shot. According to CPS, when the weapon was clogged, the man was able to escape with his car, turning back at speed and cutting out the Mercedes door on his way out of the dead end.
After the bangle attempt, Hitwoman abandoned the nearby car and returned to the property by taxi a few hours later, CPS elaborated. She fired three bullets from the window of the house, including the bedroom window.
She then returned to the taxi, from which she sent a provocative message to the victim’s father from Burner’s cell phone, reading “Where are you hiding” and “I’ll stop hiding.”
The damaged Mercedes was later recovered in black gloves containing important internal evidence, Betro’s DNA, CPS said.
Betro fled the UK within hours of the shooting. She was joined the United States three days later by her lover and conspirator Nazir. According to West Midlands police, the pair adjusted another revenge plot.
The Wisconsin native then went into hiding in Armenia, where he was tracked and handed over by Armenian police in July 2024, CPS said.
“This was a complicated investigation and extradition process that required linking multiple institutions, including national criminal institutions and the Armenian courts. We worked together to ensure a prima facie case of watertight so that she would legally arrest Amy Betro in a foreign country without her potentially fleeing without realizing it again.
Betro will be declared Thursday, August 21st.
