NEIGHBOURS IN SEEDY FLAT
Criminal’s celeb lawyer says he wanted to marry victim and start a family
term girlfriend just two months after Charlotte’s death on the Thames.
A court found in his absence that he let her drown after the badly maintained speedboat he had used to woo up to 10 other women crashed into a submerged tree trunk at high speed.
Shepherd gave himself up to Georgian police on January 23 because he was “afraid he would be seized like an animal” according to his lawyer.
UNUSUAL
A judge ruled he should stay in jail for three months before another extradition hearing in April.
Shepherd is desperately trying to block any moves to send him back to serve his sentence.
Shepherd’s next door neighbour Lia Sulaberidze, 69, remains shocked by the news bulletins and still finds it hard to believe that the quiet Englishman was a killer.
“He was very unusual because we’ve never had a foreigner living in this building before. It’s mainly young Georgian families,” he said. “I didn’t ask him, but I always thought he was a student because of how he dressed and how young he looked.”
The retired university lecturer added: “He used to be more skinny. Now he looks different with the big beard and has gained weight.
“He was always very quiet and he was always out during the day. He never seemed stressed or depressed.”
Husband and wife Gocha Knundeladze, 70, and Nana Uridia, 63, own the nearby bakery. Nana said: “He would buy khachapuri and sweet pastries. He was intelligent and very smiley and positive.”
Shop assistant Nadia Kirkitadze, 58, at the fruit and veg shop next door, told us: “He was a regular. I saw him three weeks ago with two girls. He was kissing them on the cheeks.
“The last time I saw him was two days before he was arrested. He was getting into a taxi. He blew me a kiss and said ‘ bye’.
“I cried when I saw him on the news. I was teaching him Georgian.” and
SPEEDBOAT killer Jack Shepherd has begun making astonishing claims through his celebrity lawyer.
He says he thought of MARRYING first date victim Charlotte Brown and starting a family.
And the self-confessed womaniser – who wed his longterm girlfriend just two months after Charlotte’s death – even wants to MEET her devastated parents.
The runaway made the sick announcements through Mariam Kublashvili as he fights extradition from Georgia.
Ms Kublashvili – a former model who starred on the Georgian version of Strictly Come Dancing – said: “Jack told me, ‘I wanted with this girl a future, a family and maybe she will be my wife. It was the first date, but we had communication and I saw it as serious. We had feelings for each other, then she died’.”
Charlotte’s father Graham Brown, 55, yesterday blasted Shepherd’s marriage claim and said his daughter would never have had a serious relationship with him.
“He was so serious about her he went out and married another woman,” said Graham. “My daughter would have soon got the measure of Shepherd.
“She was too smart and would have soon seen through him. He’s trying everything to avoid the fact he’s got a six-year sentence waiting for him here.” The furious dad, of Sidcup, Kent, was stunned by Ms Kublashvili’s next statement. She said: “If Charlotte’s family call, he will answer it. I asked would you be willing to meet her family? He said ‘yes’.
“He wants to look in their eyes, for them to understand and to tell them how sorry he is. He wants to prove he’s innocent and had no hand in their daughter’s death.”
She added: “I said to him ‘are you ready to speak to psychologists and to take a lie detector test and he said yes, absolutely’.”
But Graham stormed: “He could have apologised at the trial.
That’s where he should have been saying all these things. I don’t particularly welcome his apology now.”
Shepherd is hoping to avoid extradition and serve his sentence in Georgia as he fears being attacked in a British jail.
Ms Kublashvili – who is charging fees of around £15,000 – admits there is a chance he could remain in the Georgian jail for nine months.
She said: “I want now for him to be assessed by psychological experts to assess him to see why he ran away. If I wasn’t confident he’s innocent I would never have taken this case. I am confident he tried to help Charlotte, but couldn’t succeed. Her death was a pure accident.”
She said Shepherd, being held in the country’s Gldani No 8 maximum security prison, “is shaking while he’s talking. He is not normal. He gets on well with everyone in jail. He has books and a television.”
If Charlotte’s family call he will answer it. He wants to prove to them he’s innocent
LAWYER KUBLASHVILI SPEAKING FOR SHEPHERD