Jennifer Amnott, one of three US citizens extradited from Scottish prisons last year over an alleged botched plot to kidnap five children and kill their parents in Virginia, has entered into a plea agreement under which she will testify in the case, the United States Attorney's Office has confirmed.
Amnott, along with Valerie Hayes and Gary Reburn, was found living in Glasgow in 2018 after the FBI identified them as being behind the alleged scheme. They remained behind bars in Scotland for seven years, costing the public purse at least £1 million as they fought to stay in the country.
Prison interview with the 'ringleader'
Daily Record reporter Sally Hind came face to face with Hayes, described as the ringleader, in HMP Edinburgh in July 2023. Hayes, who called herself a behavioural analyst and claimed to have worked as a government agent for the US and UK, said she wanted to face justice from a “safe” country to prove she was framed.
Hayes claimed she wasn’t in the US at the time of the crime and was in the UK, having been granted temporary asylum as a victim of “systematic torture” at the hands of a US intelligence officer. She said she feared she’d be killed if extradited.
She said: “It’s very important to let the public know I’m not only seeking appropriate justice for myself, I want the family to have justice. I don’t want the wrong person to be found guilty of the crime because then the person who did interact with the conspirators of this crime will still be out there. I’m not trying to evade a trial. It’s very important I do face trial, but I want to be able to do so from a safe country.”
Alleged plot details
US prosecutors previously said the July 2018 abduction plot “read like a script from a bad horror movie”. The US Attorney’s Office claimed Hayes, living in Maryland with boyfriend Reburn, fed the Amnotts 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 allege Hayes and Reburn fled to Maryland to meet Frank’s wife Jennifer Amnott before all three fled to Scotland, where they were later arrested.
Plea agreement and documentary
A Virginia court heard of Jennifer Amnott's change of plea after her husband, Frank, was caught at the scene of the alleged crime in 2019 and pleaded guilty to his role, naming Hayes as the ringleader. The FBI previously accused Hayes of duping the childless Amnotts 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.
During her prison conversations with the reporter, Hayes also revealed she had been filming a “Netflix documentary” from inside the Scots jail. Hayes said: “They have done some filming here of me in the jail and asked me questions on camera. It’s for a Netflix documentary. She [the journalist] and her boss came and met me. I gave her the evidence. They were not expecting to see that much. The reason I’ve stayed on remand instead of consenting to extradition is an ethical matter – not just for me but for the victims of the case. If you try and convict the wrong person the other person involved will still be out there and a danger to society.”
