A wannabe hitwoman from the US who was hired to kill a family in England made a mockery of her job when her gun jammed before returning to the scene hours later and firing blindly at a window.
Mohammed Aslam and son Mohammed Nazir recruited 44-year-old alleged contract killer Aimee Betro for a retaliation killing in Birmingham in September 2019. Yesterday they were jailed for conspiracy to murder, bringing Betro and her botched attempt back into the limelight. Betro, a Wisconsin native from Milwaukee, took a selfie featuring a devil horn effect the day before she allegedly attempted to kill the family.
However, the calamitous string of errors began when her gun jammed in the bungled attempt to kill boutique clothing store owner Sikander Ali on the street.
(Image: Aimee Betro/Instagram)
It also transpired that the intended target was actually a man named Aslat Mahumad but the male confronted by the shooter was actually his son, Sikander.
It was alleged that the hijab-wearing wannabe assassin called the intended target to enquire about buying a Volkswagen Golf from him, prior to the assassination attempt.
(Image: PA)
After the failed attempt at murder, she went to McDonald’s before she headed back to a home in Birmingham in a taxi and shot at the house three times, a court heard. Bullets entered through the first floor window.
She also sent the intended recipient, Mr Ali’s father Aslat Mahamud, a text message asking him to “stop playing hide and seek” and “where are you hiding?”
Betro fled the UK and returned to Chicago, with police pursuing 56-year-old dad Nazir and 30-year-old son Aslam, accusing them of being involved in the plot to assassinate.
The jury heard how Betro fled the UK on September 9, 2019, from Manchester to New York and then on to Chicago, never to return.
(Image: PA)
She was later arrested in Armenia. Following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court in June, Nazir and Aslam, of Derby, were found guilty of conspiracy to kill.
Nazir was also found guilty of illegally importing firearms, perverting the course of justice, and possessing a firearm with the aim to provoke fear of violence.
Jurors heard that after an altercation in an upscale clothes store in 2018 that resulted in injuries to both of them, the duo harboured resentment toward Mr Ali’s family.
Driven by a desire for vengeance, they joined forces to assassinate the Birmingham business owner or attack his family.
Sentencing, Judge Simon Drew KC said – if successful – the incident would have “amounted to an execution”. The judge told the court there appeared to have been some form of relationship between Nazir and Betro.
He said there was also evidence that the two defendants had done a “recce” of the area before the attempted hit.
Mohammed Aslam and son Mohammed Nazir were both found guilty and were yesterday sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court. Nazir, 30, was sentenced to 32 years for conspiracy to murder while Mohammed Aslam, 56, was told he would serve 10 years.
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