Georgia Approves Extradition of British Convict Shepherd to the UK
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, April 9
The Tbilisi City Court and now the country’s Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani have accepted the extradition of British convict Jack Shepherd, who surrendered to the Georgian police in January of the year, to his homeland.
Shepherd, who did not accept the extradition with the use of simplified procedures shortly after the detention in January, changed his mind and stated in March that he was ready to prove his innocence in the Court of Appeals of London.
Early in March the UK sent a motion to Georgia, demanding the extradition.
The motion needed to be met firstly by the court and then signed by the Minister of Justice.
A 31-year old British male, Jack Shepherd, who was found guilty of killing Charlotte Brown, his date, in a speedboat in 2015, handed himself into the Georgian police on January 23.
He surrendered himself to police to “seek the justice and prove he is not guilty.”
In his interview with Georgia’s Rustavi 2 TV, Shepherd even claimed he was the “victim of a conspiracy.”
As he recalls, he was driving the boat but after a while, he let Ms. Brown drive, because he was under the influence of alcohol. The detainee does not find himself guilty.
Shepherd was sentenced in his absence to a six-year jail term for the manslaughter by gross negligence of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown. However, he obtained the right to appeal the decision.
The website designer escaped to Georgia before being due to stand trial for the manslaughter by gross negligence of Ms. Brown, who died when his defective speedboat crashed on the Thames during their first date.
The boat hit a submerged log near Wandsworth Bridge and capsized, flinging the woman into the river. Shepherd was found clinging to the upturned hull while Charlotte Brown was found dead from cold water immersion.
UK Interior Minister Sajid Javid phoned Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia on 25 January 2019 to thank him for Georgian support for the detention of Shepherd.
