Speedboat killer: I’m living in fear after threats
SPEEDBOAT killer Jack Shepherd yesterday claimed he was living in ‘great fear’ after receiving threats in jail.
The fugitive alleged that his family and lawyers had been subjected to warnings and ‘psychological pressure’.
Shepherd, 31, made the claims from prison in Tbilisi, Georgia, having fled the UK before being convicted of the manslaughter of Charlotte Brown, 24.
In a series of handwritten notes describing his time in prison in the former Soviet state, the web designer said he was living under ‘very great fear’.
One note read: ‘My family, lawyers and people close to me have been subject to threats and psychological pressure.’
Shepherd claimed he had received a threatening call after a court appearance. He wrote: ‘I received a call, the man didn’t say his name. He said my time in prison would be very bad.’ The killer linked the threat to Miss Brown’s father Grahis ham, 55, a semi-retired Prison Service data analyst.
Shepherd’s lawyers have claimed his life would be in danger if he was returned to a British jail because of Mr Brown’s career. Mr Brown, of Sidcup, south-east London, has dismissed the fugitive’s claims as a ‘preposterous fabrication’.
Last month Shepherd’s Georgian lawyer, Mariam Kublashvili, indicated that he may no longer fight being returned to the UK if his safety here could be guaranteed.
It came after a judge in Georgia ruled against a petition to fast-track Shepherd’s extradition after his lawyers argued he would be tortured in Britain.
But in Shepherd’s notes, written during his stay at Gldani number Eight maximum security prison and seen by The Times, he expressed a wish to remain in the country ‘ if Georgia will have me’. Referring to extradition battle, he said: ‘I am still in conversation with my legal advisers about options. We need to consider every detail... for or against extradition.’
Despite the supposed threats against him, the killer said he had found life comfortable in Georgia’s notoriously tough prison system.
‘I am treated fairly and have no complaints,’ he wrote.
‘I have met interesting people and have plenty of time to read, mostly literature about philosophy and psychology. I am currently working on a bird-feeder to hang from the cell window.’
In the documents, the fugitive claims that he was suffering from depression before being convicted of Miss Brown’s manslaughter in his absence at the Old Bailey.
The father of one’s comments are likely to further infuriate his victim’s family, who have expressed disgust at Shepherd’s failure to apologise unreservedly for her death.
Her mother Roz Wickens, 53, has urged him to ‘stop lying’ and ‘tell the truth about what happened’.
Shepherd has claimed that Miss Brown was driving the speedboat when it flipped on the Thames in December 2015 following a date.
He fled the UK before a jury found him guilty in July last year of causing her death. He was sentenced to six years in prison in Britain.
He was condemned when he claimed legal aid to appeal his conviction while still a fugitive.
After ten months on the run, and following a Daily Mail campaign for justice, Shepherd turned himself in to police in Georgia last month.
He fled last March after his wife threw him out of the family home when she discovered he was on the tragic date with Miss Brown.
In the months before her death, Shepherd had entertained up to ten other women on the ageing and badly-maintained speedboat.
‘Psychological pressure’