Valerie Hayes, Gary Reburn and Jennifer Amnott were found living in Glasgow in 2018 after the FBI identified them as being behind a plot to kidnap five children and kill their parents.
Valerie Hayes, Gary Reburn and Jennifer Amnott will now face charges over a botched child kidnap and murder plot
Three US citizens accused of a botched child snatch murder plot have been extradited from Scotland to face justice after seven years.
Valerie Hayes, Gary Reburn and Jennifer Amnott were found living in Glasgow in 2018 after the FBI identified them as being behind a plot to kidnap five children and kill their parents.
But the trio remained in Scottish prisons – costing the public purse at least £1million – as they battled to stay in the country.
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg dismissed claims an extradition would violate their human rights in July, after lawyers argued they faced an unfair sentence if convicted in the States.
And now the three have finally been returned to the US, where they appeared in court for the first time to face charges.
‘Ringleader’ Valerie Hayes faces charges of conspiring to snatch children
Media reports stated that the suspects were arraigned in a Virginia court last week, where they denied the charges.
Charlottesville publication, Cville Right Now, said: “The three Americans who fled to Scotland following an alleged 2018 attempt to kidnap five Old Order Mennonite children and execute their parents were arraigned in Charlottesville federal court on Wednesday.
“The trial date was set for January 5, 2026, but assistant U.S. attorney Sean Welsh said it may take a year or more before a trial would begin.”
US prosecutors say ringleader Hayes fled to Glasgow after botching an abduction plot, which “read like a script from a bad horror movie”.
They say the mum duped childless couple Frank and Jennifer Amnott into believing she was a government agent before convincing them to help her carry out the abduction in return for a child of their own.
Frank and Jennifer Amnott
The US Attorney’s Office claim Hayes, who was living in Maryland with boyfriend Reburn, fed the couple lies that she was in intelligence and three of her kids had been kidnapped and were being held by two families in the Old Order Mennonites community in Dayton.
Prosecutors say Hayes, Reburn and Frank Amnott planned to enter the first house and hold the parents at gunpoint. After Hayes secured the two kids, Reburn and Frank Amnott would kill the parents before driving to the second house, force entry, and carry out a similar murder.
A Department of Justice affidavit said Hayes was disguised as a Mennonite when a parent opened the door and was held at gunpoint. Another parent fled and dialled 911 and, when cops arrived, found Frank Amnott holding the parent hostage.
Prosecutors say Hayes and Reburn fled to Maryland to meet Amnott’s wife before all three fled to Scotland, where they were later arrested.
In 2019, Frank Amnott pled guilty to conspiracy to kidnap, conspiracy to kill witnesses and firearm offences. He received a mandatory life sentence for conspiracy to kidnap and to kill witnesses. He said Hayes was central to the July 2018 plot.
Frank Amnott pleaded guilty to several charges
Hayes insists she was in the UK having been granted temporary asylum as a victim of “systematic torture” at the hands of a US intelligence officer.
But their bids to remain in Scotland were thrown out at each stage of the court process.
The US Department of Justice said if they were convicted of every charge, the minimum possible sentence would be life.
Their final attempt, at the European Court of Human Rights, was blocked in July.
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The court said: “The decision of the US Congress to punish such acts with the most severe punishment available – being a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment – therefore falls well within the boundaries of ‘legitimate and reasonable differences between States’.”
But a further block was put on their extradition until the European court considered any request made to refer their case to the court’s Grand Chamber – where cases can take up to three years to conclude. But no request was made by the deadline, allowing the trio to be extradited.
We revealed in June that Hayes, Amnott and Reburn had, at that point, cost the public purse £1million in legal aid fees and estimated prisoner costs in Scotland.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on individual cases.”