US woman found guilty of murder plot in Britain
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Aimee Betro was extradited from Armenia earlier in 2025 to face trial in Britain, after a years-long police hunt.
PHOTOS: WEST MIDLANDS POLICE
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- Aimee Betro was found guilty in a UK court for a 2019 plot to murder Sikander Ali, stemming from a violent family feud.
- Betro, disguised in a niqab, attempted to shoot Ali, but the gun jammed, enabling him to escape; she denied involvement.
- Betro claimed it was a coincidence, and another American woman was the shooter; she is to be sentenced on August 21.
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LONDON – An American woman was found guilty in a British court on Aug 12 of participating in a 2019 plot to murder a British man caught up in a bitter feud between families.
After a years-long police hunt, Aimee Betro, 45, was extradited earlier in 2025 from Armenia where she was living to face trial in the central English city of Birmingham.
Prosecutors told the court that Betro had covered her face in a niqab as she climbed out of a car in September 2019 and tried to shoot Mr Sikander Ali at point-blank range.
But the handgun jammed and Mr Ali fled in his car, which was parked outside his home.
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. She told the jury she was in love with him.
Both men were jailed in 2024 for their roles in the “violent” feud, which erupted after they were injured in a brawl at Mr Ali’s father’s clothing store in July 2018.
Prosecutor Hannah Sidaway said: “Betro tried to kill a man in a Birmingham street at point-blank range. It is sheer luck that he managed to get away unscathed.”
The case had been brought to trial after “years of hard work, doggedly pursuing Aimee Betro across countries and borders”, she added.
Graphic design graduate Betro did not know Mr Ali and denied three charges, including conspiracy to murder and possessing a self-loading pistol, saying 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.
The police said they had seen no evidence that Betro was paid for her role in the attempted attack.
She will be sentenced on Aug 21. AFP
