How he abused legal system from his bolthole

SHEPHERD was also condemned by the judge for his outrageous abuse of the legal system.

He said the fugitive had been ‘having his cake and eating it’ by receiving daily transcripts from court while on the run in Georgia and later sending back a detailed statement protesting his innocence.

Throughout last July’s trial at the Old Bailey Shepherd was living the high life, learning to ski and wooing a new girlfriend. But he was keeping abreast of every twist and turn in the three-week case via his London lawyers and over the internet.

Judge Richard Marks QC said: ‘This is not how our system of justice is intended to operate. Although your lawyers were unaware of your whereabouts, you had provided them with a means of communicating with you. The effect of this was, as I gleaned during the trial, that notes of the entirety of the evidence were being sent to you on a frequent basis via the internet.’

He said he became ‘particularly aware of this’ only after the trial – during the sentencing hearing – ‘when I was presented with a detailed statement from you, written and sent from your hideaway’.

Shepherd’s lawyer, Andrew McGee, told the judge there was nothing improper in the communications with the defendant.