Wis. Hitwoman Aimee Betro Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison After Traveling to U.K. to Kill Man for Lover She Met on Dating App By Kimberlee Speakman

A Wisconsin woman who traveled to abroad and attempted to assassinate a man on behalf of someone that she met on a dating app has been sentenced to prison.

Aimee Betro, 45, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in the United Kingdom on Thursday, Aug. 21, one week after being convicted of conspiracy to murder and two firearms charges, according to the BBC, The London Standard and The Guardian.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Betro traveled to the U.K. in 2019, where she disguised herself in a niqab and went to the Birmingham home of Sikander Ali. Prosecutors said she intended to kill Ali at the request of her lover, Mohammed Nazir of Derbyshire, whom she met on a dating app.

Nazir and his father, Mohammed Aslam, were injured during a confrontation at a clothing store owned by Ali’s father. Following the clash, Nazir enlisted Betro to carry out the murder as tensions between the two families escalated, according to additional reporting by the BBC.

She was seen on CCTV footage approaching Ali with a gun “clearly visible in her hand,” but the gun jammed when she fired at point-blank range, allowing Ali to get back into his car and escape, per the CPS. She returned the next day and fired three bullets which caused “extensive damage” to the home.

“You went beyond simply reaching an agreement to kill and, in reality, you did intend to kill Mr Ali. It is only a matter of chance that Mr Ali wasn’t killed,” Judge Simon Drew KC said in court during the sentencing, per The Guardian. “You were engaged in a complex, well planned conspiracy to murder. You were prepared to pull the trigger and did so on two separate occasions.”

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“So far as you are concerned, clearly you had a leading role. I accept that Nazir recruited you, but you were the gunwoman,” the judge added, per the outlet. “You were the person who was prepared to fire the gun, as a result you showed that you were willing to carry out the killing yourself.”

Following the attempted murder plot, Betro fled the country and evaded capture for five years until she was finally tracked down by a reporter for the Daily Mail in Armenia last year. She was subsequently extradited to the U.K. to face charges.

As for Nazir and Aslam, they were each convicted last year on conspiracy to murder charges. Nazir was sentenced to 32 years in prison; Aslam received a 10-year sentence, per CPS.

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According to The Guardian, Drew noted that he took into account Betro’s “history,” “age” and the fact that she would “serve some or all” of her sentence in a U.K. prison,” which was “far away from home” in her sentencing. He also referenced a letter she wrote to him, in which she expressed “remorse.”

West Midlands Police Detective Alastair Orencas shared in a statement to BBC following the sentencing: “This is a unique case which has involved a huge amount of work tracing the movements of Betro from her arrival into the U.K., her subsequent failed attempt to shoot a man dead, and her departure from the U.K.”

“An incredible amount of work went into building up a really detailed picture of her activities while in the U.K.,” he continued. “We worked really closely with partners such as the Armenian Government, (NCA), FBI, Crown Prosecution Service and Derbyshire Constabulary to bring Betro back to the U.K. to face justice. I’d like to thank all of them for helping to achieve justice.”