Horrified mum realises woman she let in her home was fugitive who plotted kidnap
A mum has shared her horror after discovering two women she sheltered in her family home were suspects in a kidnap and murder plot.
Miriam Berlow-Jackson says she is traumatised after learning the person who stayed with her for four months and looked after her own children was later wanted by US police over a "horror movie script" plot to snatch five youngsters and murder their parents.
The mum-of-three from Glasgow innocently believed she was providing a refuge when she let Valerie Hayes stay back in 2014.
The 42-year-old fugitive later became wanted for the serious crimes in Virginia in 2018, with co-accused Jennifer Amnott also turning up at her door days after fleeing US authorities.
The Scot told the Daily Record she felt sickened and "manipulated" after realising she and her husband had unwittingly harboured a fugitive under the same roof as their children.
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Miriam Berlow let Valerie stay with her family bac in 2014, later discovering she was wanted for a kidnap and murder plot in the US (Tony Nicoletti Daily Record)“I think we’ve had a lucky escape," said Miriam, 49.
"Valerie was a master manipulator and I was too trusting."
Hayes and Amnott are now in custody in Scotland waiting to be extradited back to the US. The two, along with 49-year-old Gary Reburn, are wanted for their alleged parts in an attempt to steal the children from a religious community in 2018.
Amnott's husband Frank Jesse Amnott, from Florida, is already serving a life sentence for his involvement in the crimes.
According to legal documents, Valerie Hayes duped the Amnotts into believing she was a government agent.
Valerie was invited into Miriam's home as part of a scheme to shelter women fleeing domestic violence (Tony Nicoletti Daily Record)The couple, who could not have kids, helped her hatch a plan for the abduction in exchange for a child of their own.
US authorities claim Hayes, along with boyfriend Reburn and the Amnotts, plotted to take the children who she falsely claimed had been hers and kidnapped from her.
Miriam was part of a women's support network when she first let Hayes stay with her, her lawyer husband and three children aged between two and eight, in 2014 - prior to the alleged plot.
“She was in my house the entire time. If I needed to go out she would babysit and she would take the kids out for walks. It was like she was part of the family.
Miriam has described Valerie (pictured) as a narcissist and manipulator (Tony Nicoletti Daily Record)“She was lovely with the kids and just seemed like a really nice, vulnerable girl who had got into a dodgy situation. There were no red flags.
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"She was literally the perfect house guest. But the whole time she was catfishing me and making me think she was this person she wasn’t.”
Hayes’ stories became more elaborate and she would tell Miriam how she was working undercover for intelligence services.
“She would tell everybody she was working in human trafficking and go on missions to rescue people," Miriam added.
Hayes left when the family moved and remained in contact.
Miriam describes feeling sickened after learning what Valerie was accused of (Tony Nicoletti Daily Record)Soon after, Miriam was distraught to see claims Hayes had been shot and killed on a work “mission”.
But then she turned up online again. Miriam said: “I kept chatting a little but I just couldn’t handle the nonsense anymore. I wanted to distance myself from the drama.”
In 2018, Miriam was approached through the network with a request for Hayes' friend Jennifer Amnott to stay with her.
Just days after the alleged plot to snatch the children in the US had failed, she was at Miriam’s door.
Miriam Berlow Jackson has three children who Valerie looked after while staying with them (Tony Nicoletti Daily Record)Miriam said: "Soon after I saw an article from the US about Frank being arrested on these allegations and couldn’t believe it. I had been harbouring a fugitive and didn’t know. The next thing we knew they had been detained.”
Miriam said she “obsessively” researched the US case during lockdown. She said: “I was beside myself with the thought that she might have been planning to take my kids. It completely freaked me out.
"I realise now that Valerie Hayes is a psychopathic narcissist of the highest order. She is dangerous."
The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal against Hayes and Amnott's extradition last month.
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