US hitwoman Aimee Betro who wore niqab in botched assassination jailed for 30 years

A woman from the US who wore a niqab disguise and tried to shoot a stranger dead in the street has been jailed for 30 years.

Aimee Betro, 45, was flown to the UK from Wisconsin in September 2019 by Mohammed Aslam, 59, and Mohammed Nabil Nazir, 31, who orchestrated the murder plot.

The dad and son wanted to settle a ‘vendetta’ against Aslat Mahumad, who is part of a rival family in Birmingham, after they were beaten up at his clothing boutique a year earlier.

Betro, described by police as ‘fairly unexceptional’ wore the niqab and waited outside Mr Mahumad’s home on September 7 before approaching his son Sikander Ali.

CCTV shows her raising her arm and pulling the trigger at point-blank range.

But the gun jammed, and Mr Ali managed to flee. Betro then went to the family home and fired three shots inside the house, which was empty at the time.

She flew back to the US days after the bungled assassination attempt and was later extradited to the UK.

Betro was found guilty of conspiracy to murder, possessing a self-loading pistol with intent to cause fear of violence, and a charge of illegally importing ammunition.

Betro denied any involvement in the failed hit, telling the court she flew to the UK to celebrate her birthday and go to a boat party.

She also maintained that a woman described as having an American accent and being small and fat, who bought a BMW linked to the plot, was not her.

Betro suggested it must have been ‘another American woman’ who sounded like her, used her phone, and had almost identical trainers on.

The fact that she happened to be around the corner from the shooting minutes later was ‘all just a terrible coincidence’, she added.

Betro, a childhood development and graphic design graduate, was described as ‘fairly unexceptional’ with no record of any criminal activity.

Det Ch Insp Alastair Orencas said: ‘On the face of it, a normal-looking individual [but] prepared to do an outrageous, audacious and persistent murder.’

She met Nazir through a dating app and slept with him in King’s Cross, London, on a visit to the UK between December 2018 and January 2019.

It remains unclear how she became involved in the shooting plot but prosecutors have argued she played a ‘leading role’.

The court was told she was involved in another of Nazir’s plots when she sent three parcels of gun parts and ammunition to the UK a month later.

They were addressed to a man named Faris Quayum, whom Nazir was hoping to frame by tipping police off to the delivery.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.