Aimee Betro

Aimee Betro (born 27 August 1979)^[1] is an American criminal, convicted in the United Kingdom of attempting to carry out the contract killing of a shopkeeper in Birmingham in September 2019. After striking up an online relationship with one of her co-conspirators, Betro travelled from her home in Wisconsin to the UK in August 2019, and disguised herself in a niqab in order to carry out the assassination. She attempted to shoot Sikander Ali at point-blank range, but her gun jammed, allowing him to escape. On a later occasion, Betro fired shots into Ali's family home before fleeing back to the United States. She then travelled to Armenia, where she was arrested in 2024, and extradited to the UK. Following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, Betro was convicted on 12 August 2025, and will be sentenced on 21 August.

The conspiracy was orchestrated by father and son Mohammed Aslam and Mohammed Nazir following a violent dispute over the price of a wedding suit at Seher Boutique, a clothing store in Birmingham belonging to Aslat Mahumad.^[2] Aslam and Nazir were both injured during the altercation, which occurred in July 2018, and subsequently hatched a plot to kill either Mahumad, or a member of his family, in revenge.^[3] Nazir, of Derby, struck up an online relationship with Betro, an American childhood development and graphic design graduate who he met through a dating app. She first travelled from her home in West Allis, Wisconsin, to the UK to meet Nazir in December 2018, and they spent Christmas together, before she flew back to the United States in January 2019.^[4][5][6]

Posing as a tourist, Betro returned to the UK on 22 August 2019,^[4] landing at Manchester Airport.^[7] In the following days she posted pictures of a number of UK landmarks on social media.^[4] On 4 September she travelled to Derby, where she met Nazir and test fired the handgun she planned to use in the killing on waste land. Having booked herself into the Rotunda Hotel in Birmingham, she bought two burner phones, one of which she gave to Nazir. She initially contacted Mahumad on 6 September under the pretence of wanting to buy a VW Golf from him. On the morning of 7 September, she left her hotel and bought a second hand Mercedes E240 from a garage in Alum Rock, using the name Becky Booth, then travelled to the Yardley area of Birmingham, where she lay in wait outside Mahumad's property. At 8.10pm, Mahumad's son, Sikander Ali, arrived at the house in his SUV. As he exited his car on the property's drive, Betro, disguised in a niqab, approached him, produced the gun and fired. However, the gun jammed and Ali was able to escape by getting back into his vehicle and reversing at high speed, damaging the driver's door of Betro's car in the process. Betro then drove away, and abandoned the Mercedes nearby. After changing her clothes, she returned to the area in a taxi during the early hours of the following morning. Instructing the taxi driver to park some distance from Mahumad's property, she walked to the house and fired a number of shots through its front windows. The property was empty at the time.^[4][6][8]

Betro returned to the United States on 9 September,^[7] and Nazir joined her there three days later. They then devised a plot to frame another man for the attempted assassination that would involve mailing ammunition and gun parts to him from the United States, then tipping off the police. Nazir returned to the UK on 13 October, where he was arrested.^[4][5]

Police became aware of Betro following the attempt to frame another individual for the failed shooting. West Midlands Police launched an investigation into the incident, and Betro's movements were tracked using CCTV footage and mobile phone data. A video of a handgun being test fired was found on Nazir's phone, with the date on the footage, 4 September 2019, coinciding with Betro's visit to Derby to meet Nazir. CCTV footage was found showing Betro wearing a distinctive summer dress as she left her hotel on the morning of 7 September, and of her purchasing the car. Footage was also obtained showing the Mercedes repeatedly driving past Mahumad's property, along with a red Volvo belonging to Aslam and Nazir. Police also discovered that Betro had purchased burner phones during shopping trips as she planned the shooting.^[1][2][7] Her DNA was also found on the contents of three packages she posted to the UK, as well as on a black glove discovered inside the abandoned Mercedes.^[2][5]

Following her return to the United States, Betro had subsequently travelled to Armenia, where she spent several years on the run.^[9] The investigation and subsequent hunt for Betro, as well as efforts to extradite her, required the collaboration of several police forces, including West Midlands Police, Derbyshire Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States.^[1] It was also aided by the British newspaper, the Daily Mail, which tracked her down to her hideout in Armenia.^[3]

The UK issued an international arrest request for Betro in June 2024.^[1] On 3 July 2024, she was detained by Armenian police,^[10] and extradited to the United Kingdom in January 2025.^[9] On 16 January, the Crown Prosecution Service authorised West Midlands Police to charge Betro with conspiracy to murder, possession of a firearm and fraudulently importing prohibited goods into the UK.^[11] On 14 February she entered a plea of not guilty during a hearing at Birmingham Crown Court, where she appeared via videolink from HMP New Hall.^[12] A trial date was also set for July.^[13]

Nazir and Aslam stood trial for their part in the conspiracy in 2024. Following conviction, they were sentenced to prison terms of 32 years and 10 years respectively in November 2024.^[14]

Betro's trial began at Birmingham Crown Court on 21 July.^[15][16] The case was prosecuted by Hannah Sidaway KC,^[1] and defended by Paul Lewis KC,^[17] while Simon Drew KC was the presiding judge.^[18]

The court was shown CCTV footage of Betro waiting outside Mahumad's house on 7 September 2019, and the subsequent attempted shooting incident. The trial also heard that afterwards, Betro had sent Mahumad taunting text messages, including ones that said "Where are you hiding?" and "Stop playing hide and seek, you are lucky it jammed," as well as one asking him to meet her at a nearby Asda supermarket. The jury was also told that Betro had booked the taxi to return to Mahumad's property in the name of Becky Booth, the same name she had used to purchase the car, and that the taxi had been ordered by an American woman.^[1][14]

The trial also heard that on 16 October, Betro had travelled to Palatine, Illinois, a town 100 miles from her home to post parcels to the UK at a post office, using the name M Chandler, and that the man she and Nazir had tried to frame was initially arrested, but later cleared of any involvement. The court was told that DNA was recovered from the contents of three packages that arrived in the UK.^[1][14]

Betro told the court she had visited the UK to meet Nazir on two previous occasions, and that she had returned in August 2019 to celebrate her birthday, for "random touristy things", and because she had won tickets to a "boat party in London". She claimed that the CCTV footage was not of her, but of another American woman who sounded, dressed and looked like her.^[14][17] She also claimed to have no knowledge of the shooting, and said that Nazir had not mentioned a shooting during their time together in the United States.^[6]

Following the three week trial, the jury deliberated for 21 hours before convicting her on 12 August 2025. Betro was found guilty of conspiracy to murder, possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and illegal importation of ammunition into the UK.^[14] She will be sentenced on 21 August.