Child snatch murder plot suspects fail at 'human rights' bid to remain in Scotland
Three US citizens wanted over a horror child snatch murder plot have failed at another bid to remain in Scotland.
Valerie Hayes, Gary Reburn and Jennifer Amnott were found living in Glasgow in 2018 - after the FBI identified them as suspected of being behind a plot to kidnap five children and kill their parents.
But the trio have remained in Scottish prisons for almost seven years as they battle to stay in the country - claiming they face an unfair sentence if convicted in the States.
On Tuesday morning, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg dismissed claims that their extradition would violate their human rights.
The court said there would be no breach on account of 'the risk that if convicted they would receive a sentence of life imprisonment without parole' or because a mandatory life sentence would be 'grossly disproportionate'.
It said in a judgement: '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 Hayes, Reburn and Amnott may still remain in Scotland for some time as a block has been put on their extradition until the European court agrees to any request made to refer their case to the court's Grand Chamber - where cases can take up to three years to conclude.
Such requests are accepted on an 'exceptional basis'.
We revealed last month that the trio have already cost the public purse £1million in legal aid fees and estimated prisoner costs.
US prosecutors say Jennifer Amnott and her husband, Frank met Hayes in 2015.
The Amnotts were said to be desperate to start a family and Hayes told them that she had three children who had been 'captured' and were in the custody of two Mennonite families in West Virginia.
She allegedly told the Amnotts that if they helped her to recover her children they could keep one of the Mennonite families' two other children.
Reburn was Hayes' boyfriend. Together the two couples allegedly formed a plan which involved carrying out surveillance on the houses of the two Mennonite families; obtaining firearms; achieving armed entry to the two houses; securing the five children; and murdering their four parents by shooting them in the head.
On July 28, 2018 Hayes and Reburn are said to have travelled with Frank Amnott from Maryland to Virginia, while Jennifer Amnott remained in Maryland. The next day Hayes, Reburn and Frank Amnott allegedly entered the home of the first Mennonite family while they were at church. They returned after dark, with Reburn and Frank Amnott carrying firearms, and forced their way inside the house.
The allegations state the father was held in the basement at gunpoint by frank Amnott but the mother escaped and called police.
Hayes and Reburn allegedly managed to escape and fled to Scotland with Jennifer Amnott.
In 2019, Frank Amnott, who was found at the scene, pled guilty to a string of charges and is yet to face sentence.
Hayes, Jennifer Amnott and Reburn's appeals against extradition were previously thrown out of the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court in London.
In 2023, the case was sent to the European Court of Human Rights.
The US Department of Justice had stated that if they were convicted of every single charge, the minimum possible sentence would be a sentence of life imprisonment plus twenty-eight years.
But it said they would have the opportunity to 'attack the charges and have some or all of them dismissed' as well as having the opportunity to reduce a life sentence.
But a 2023 letter further offered a plea deal.
The judgement said: 'In this letter the US Attorney for the Western District of Virginia indicated that the applicants would be offered a plea bargain to offences other than the one carrying a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, thereby allowing them to avoid facing this mandatory sentence. Furthermore, they could seek to reduce their sentence by cooperating with law enforcement and providing assistance to ongoing investigative and procedural efforts.'
It added there would be 'multiple review mechanisms in place' allowing the US authorities to consider the applicants' progress towards rehabilitation or any other ground for release, mainly compassionate release and executive clemency, known as a state pardon.
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Lawyers for the three said 'no formal intimation of the detail of any such plea bargain' had been received during the appeal process.
The EHCR judgment will not become final, and a block on extradition will remain in place, until a decision is made on whether the case should go to the Grand Chamber, within three months.
The Record has contacted lawyers for the three accused for comment.
The Scottish Government previously said it is 'inappropriate for Scottish Ministers or officials to comment on individual cases'.
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