Jack Shepherd Prepares for Extradition
Brit Jack Shepherd will leave Georgia and return to the UK, having agreed to his extradition. During a lengthy three-hour court hearing, the fugitive Brit consented to be extradited to the UK, citing his willingness to “participate in the appeal” and eagerness to see his family and loved ones again. Allegedly, the fact that the time he spent in Gldani prison wouldn’t count towards his UK sentence also had considerable impact on the distraught Brit’s decision. According to the lawyers, they will not be appealing the decision, which will see Shepherd returned to the UK to serve his six-year sentence in about two weeks, with Minister of Justice Tea Tsulukiani set to rubber-stamp documents officially affirming his imminent departure.
Shepherd fled the UK in March 2018 before his trial for the manslaughter of Charlotte Brown, who died in a speedboat crash on the River Thames in London. Shepherd and Brown had met online and were on a first date when the incident happened. Shepherd had taken Brown for dinner at the Shard before taking her out on his rented speed boat. He is also accused of causing grievous bodily harm with intent in an incident in Devon, UK, in March 2018, shortly before he fled. Whilst on the run, Shepherd spent months hiding in Tbilisi before finally handing himself over to police. The British media has been buzzing ever since, with tabloid press speculating over “Speedboat Killer” Shepherd’s cloudy future.
The court hearing itself was far from a straightforward affair. After Shepherd refused to consent to simplified extradition procedures back in February, it took an official order from the UK justice system to Georgia to kickstart the whole affair. The latest process saw the court considering the admissibility of Shepherd’s extradition, wherein the prosecution wasted little time in pointing out that both incidents involving Shepherd were punishable by the Georgian Criminal Code (Articles 10 and 116) and, therefore, there were no legal grounds for keeping him in a cell in Georgia. The defense, despite their client agreeing to being extradited, still elected to argue the case. Concerns over his safety in British prison were reiterated and new details emerged as it became known that Shepherd was receiving hate-and-threat mail while in prison, as were his lawyers, both Georgian and British, and that his mother’s phone had been hacked, with somebody replacing the screensaver with the deceased Charlotte Brown’s photo.
“Jack made the only decision that was correct, a decision that is both right and honorable,” Mariam Kublashvili, Shepherd’s Georgian lawyer (one of three), said. “He could have stayed here for the whole nine months and then come out of prison a free man. He could have requested asylum, appealed the court decision, postponed the court processes by requesting psychological assessments and so on; he had many opportunities, but he decided not to take them. And remember, instead of handing himself over to the police in January, he could have gone to Russia or Turkey, Armenia or Azerbaijan, pretty much every place this side of the globe. But he didn’t. He had real, substantial reasons to fear that he would be subjected to degrading, inhuman treatment in British prison. He feared for his life. He believed that, and yet he chose to return to his homeland, have an honest dialogue with Charlotte’s family and give a good account of himself in court. He wants to set the record straight, answer for any mistakes he made and try to prove his innocence. Paskolos ir greitieji kreditai internetu visą parą bedarbiams, automibiliui, be užstato, su vekseliu, iš žmonių, paskolų refinansavimas, Swedbank, Inbank, Šiaulių bankas, Medicinos, Luminor ir SEB bankų vartojimo paskolos. This is not a decision dictated by desperation, or fear, or a decision made by a monster and killer, as the tabloid media have so undeservedly named him: he wants to hold his head high for his son and family and fight what he believes is his truth.”
Kublashvili then went on to request that media not be unfair and subjective, and to “remember that the terrible accident that took place was not a singular case: every one of us could find ourselves in the same unlucky situation tomorrow: this is not a crime and doesn’t deserve the same punishment,” she insisted.
She noted that her client was requesting 24/7 video surveillance and a solitary cell of the UK prison system, open access to media and the chance to talk to Charlotte Brown’s family, an argument that Judge Arsen Kalatozishvili opined he should have brought before the UK legal system, not the Georgian.
Kublashvili also claimed she would be willing to travel to the UK to represent Shepherd there, as she thinks her client would stand a very good chance of being acquitted in the appeals court in London.
By Vazha Tavberidze