Arrogant fugitive Jack Shepherd says his manslaughter conviction after Charlotte Brown’s death on the River Thames in London was a “miscarriage of justice”
Arrogant speedboat killer Jack Shepherd claims his life will be at risk if he is sent back to Britain, a court heard.
Lawyers for the fugitive fighting extradition from Georgia went all out for sympathy.
In a farcical hearing they dubbed his conviction for the manslaughter of Charlotte Brown, 24, “a miscarriage of justice”.
They criticised the British legal system. And they insisted his Old Bailey trial – which he fled to avoid justice – was “unfair”.
Shepherd, 31, was even allowed to make an emotional statement saying he was an innocent man who just wanted to get on with the rest of his life.
But the judge was having none of it and sent him to join the murderers, rapists and paedophiles in Tblisi’s notorious No8 jail until the case is settled.
Shepherd’s lawyer Tariel Kakabadz had told the court: “Threats were levelled at him by the father of the deceased girl who holds an influential position in the prison system.
“He was told that if he ends up in a British prison he will face a lot of problems that would be adverse to his health and life.”
In his speech Shepherd, voice quaking, spoke of the night his boat capsized on the Thames, throwing Charlotte, who he had let drive, to her death.
He said: “It is my greatest regret. Not a day passes when I don’t think about the loss of Charlotte’s life.”
But prosecutor Ketevan Gurashvili said Shepherd, who gave himself up to police on Wednesday, was a “clever man” with contacts who “planned to flee to Thailand or Indonesia”.
Meanwhile, more details emerged about his 10 months in Georgia. Another of his legal team, Mariam Kublashvili, who was in the Georgian version of Strictly Come Dancing , said he worked as a web designer and “moved around various flats which he paid for himself”.
She claimed his July trial, at which he was sentenced to six years in his absence, was unfair “because the jury did not hear from him”.
Charlotte’s dad Graham said that far from being a government figure, he is “just a bloke from Sidcup trying to cope with losing my daughter”.
Shepherd’s prison has been dubbed Georgia’s Abu Ghraib.
In 2012 guards were filmed beating and sexually abusing inmates with broom handles.
It will be a far cry from his days on the run, living the high life and taking trips to nearby ski resorts.
Some reports said he had a steady girlfriend as he moved from flat to flat to escape notice.
