From the start, Betro denied her involvement and told the trial it was “all just a terrible coincidence” that she was around the corner from the scene of the attempted assassination six minutes later.<\/p>\n
She claimed it was in fact the work of “another American woman” who sounded similar to her, used the same phone and wore the same sort of trainers.<\/p>\n
Jurors found her guilty of conspiracy to murder by majority verdict after almost 21 hours of deliberation.<\/p>\n
Det Ch Insp Orencas described Betro as someone who was “extremely dangerous and extremely motivated to cause the worst harm to people”.<\/p>\n
Nor was her involvement “off-the-cuff… madness” but pre-planned with others across continents, he added.<\/p>\n
“I think [she] has had a somewhat problematic relationship with the truth in not accepting what she was accused of.”<\/p>\n
Asked if he believed Betro was paid or had acted out of loyalty to her partner Nazir, the officer said: “We’ve not seen evidence of payments.<\/p>\n
“They met on a dating site, whether this is a partner doing something for another partner, again, there’s no clear evidence of that. I see it as a criminal association and a murderous plot.”<\/p>\n