SCARED TO FACE JUSTICE
Child kidnap and murder plot suspect says her military spy ex-hubby will frame her if she is extradited to the States
A WOMAN wanted in the US for a kidnap and murder plot has blocked her extradition after claiming she will be framed by her military intelligence ex-husband.
Valerie Perfect Hayes and co-accuseds Gary Blake Reburn and Jennifer Amnott are wanted in the US over a bizarre attempt to snatch five kids and kill their parents in Virginia.
A Scottish court has ordered their return to the US after they fled to this country.
But Hayes has claimed it’s not safe to return home as she faces being persecuted by her military intelligence officer ex.
We revealed last week how the trio were finally being sent back to the US when orders were signed for their extradition almost three years after they were found living in Glasgow.
But the process could now be delayed for several more months after all three suspects lodged appeals to remain in Scotland.
Though the basis for the suspect’s appeals have not been made public, Hayes has told how she is being set up by her ex – claiming he is a highranking intelligence officer.
Her lawyer in Scotland, Jelina Rahman, previously said Hayes claims to have faced “inhuman, degrading treatment, torture and persecution” from her ex, saying her “biggest fear is to return to the USA”.
A source close to alleged plot ringleader Hayes said of her bid to remain: “It’s not surprising. I don’t think anyone would want to be extradited to face the charges she is facing. If convicted she won’t be seeing freedom for a very long time.”
Prosecutors in the States said the alleged abduction plot read “like the script from a bad horror movie” after Hayes, Reburn and Jennifer Amnott were found in Glasgow in 2018.
Florida man Frank Jesse Amnott, Jennifer’s husband, is already facing a life sentence in the US after pleading guilty to his involvement.
Legal papers claim Hayes masterminded the plan by duping the Amnotts, who could not have kids, 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.
They say Hayes, who was living with boyfriend Reburn in Maryland, contacted the couple claiming three of her own children had been kidnapped and were in the custody of two Mennonite farming families in Dayton.
The US Attorney’s Office say the four devised a plan to take the children – found to be unrelated to Hayes – and kidnap two others in a murderous plan which “sought to eliminate witnesses to the abductions” by executing both sets of parents on July 29, 2018. It said Jennifer Amnott stayed in Maryland watching Hayes’ real children while the other forced their way into the first house in Virginia. The children’s mother managed to escape and alert police while Hayes and Reburn allegedly fled. Frank Amnott was arrested holding the father at gunpoint and pled guilty in December 2019 at a Harrisonburg court to conspiracy to commit kidnapping and conspiracy to kill witnesses – which carries a mandatory life sentence. An affidavit written by an FBI agent investigating the case last year detailed more than 1000 text exchanges between numbers linked to the Amnotts, Hayes and Reburn, outlining their alleged plan.
Hayes, Reburn and Amnott were arrested in Glasgow around four months after the alleged abduction attempt.
Orders granting their extraditions were signed last month by Cabinet Secretary for Justice Keith Brown and the trio were given 14 days to appeal the decision before the process could be carried out.
The Scottish Government said all three had the right to appeal to the High Court of Justiciary, subject to being granted permission to do so.
Court officials yesterday confirmed appeals had now been lodged at the High Court in Edinburgh.
All three will remain in custody pending a decision in their case.