‘Besotted’ lover of Jack Shepherd claims married fugitive is ‘the best person in the world’

Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd’s Georgian lover has revealed the convicted killer was ‘crying his eyes out’ when he told her he was wanted over the crash. 

Maiko Tchanturidze is understood to have fled the capital Tbilisi after her romantic relationship with Shepherd was exposed by the Daily Mail.

But despite the married fugitive’s actions, his 24-year-old girlfriend is ‘besotted’ and continues to stand by Shepherd – describing him as the ‘best person in the world’.

In hiding: Maiko Tchanturidze is understood to have fled Tbilisi after the Mail exposed their relationship

Besotted: Maiko Tchanturidze, pictured with Jack Shepherd on Mount Kazbegi

Besotted: Maiko Tchanturidze, pictured with Jack Shepherd on Mount Kazbegi

‘He is the best person in the world,’ Miss Tchanturidze said. ‘Everything the media is saying about him is false.’

Pictures emerged yesterday of the couple gazing adoringly into each other’s eyes on a mountaintop in Georgia – just weeks after Shepherd had fled Britain last March.

His victim: Charlotte Brown was just 24

His victim: Charlotte Brown was just 24

The 31-year-old web designer’s relationship with Miss Tchanturidze appears to have become serious enough that they travelled to her family home in Kutaisi, 140 miles west of the capital, in October.

Shepherd had not told police about his relationship with the glamorous TV journalist in a bid to protect her, sources said. She is now likely to face censure over claims that she knew Shepherd was wanted in the UK for the manslaughter of Charlotte Brown.

Last night, a friend told the Mail: ‘She has fled Tbilisi and deleted all her social media accounts. Some of Maiko’s friends and colleagues were unaware of her relationship with Shepherd and she has some explaining to do.

‘Those who did meet him didn’t know he was a wanted man. Maiko has gone to ground because she is scared that it looks like she was harbouring him.’

Shepherd is understood to have told her he was a fugitive, and gave his version of what happened to Miss Brown, 24, whom he blames for her own death.

Sources said Miss Tchanturidze supported Shepherd’s decision to appeal against his six-year prison sentence, but encouraged him to hand himself in after senior UK politicians joined the public outcry over his flight from justice.

Jack Shepherd asked for copy of Kafka’s The Trial about miscarriage of justice to read in jail 

Shameless Shepherd has asked for a copy of Franz Kafka’s The Trial to read in jail.

The classic story about a miscarriage of justice centres on a man trapped in a baffling legal nightmare.

Shepherd has requested The Essential Kafka, which includes The Trial, along with Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and an album of photographs of his estranged wife and two-year-old son. He is being held in a ‘special unit’ in Gldani Prison Number Eight, known for poor treatment of prisoners.

Videos surfaced online in 2012 of staff beating inmates. Sources said the jail was overrun with drug dealers and murderers but indicated Shepherd ‘will be treated with kid gloves’, adding that guards will ‘look after him’.

Miss Tchanturidze told The Sun: ‘He said he had something to tell me. He seemed upset, his face was red. He was struggling to get his words out, but he said he’d been involved in a boat accident where a girl had died, and that he was wanted by Interpol. He said he was going to hand himself in because he ‘didn’t want to be hunted down like an animal’.

‘I was beyond shocked. He was also crying his eyes out.

‘It was very frightening to hear his story. I had questions, but he answered them all and cleared even tiny doubts I had.’

She said they clicked after he petted her dog in a park, adding: ‘We bumped into each other a few more times. We became close so I introduced him to my sister and friends, and we started going out to bars and restaurants.’

At the time the couple posed gazing into each other’s eyes on Mount Kazbegi, 100 miles north of Tbilisi, the grieving family of Miss Brown, from Clacton, Essex, had no idea that he had skipped bail and fled overseas.

Shepherd was said to be a regular visitor at the apartment Miss Tchanturidze shares with her sister in the affluent district of Saburtalo in Tbilisi.

He married in Britain two months after killing Miss Brown in December 2015. The couple have a child, two, but his wife threw him out after learning he had cheated. 

  • Shepherd has asked for of Franz Kafka’s The Trial to read in jail. The story about a miscarriage of justice centres on a man trapped in a baffling legal nightmare.

Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd asks victim’s parents to visit him in Georgian jail to ‘explain what happened to their daughter in fatal Thames crash’ 

From Inderdeep Bains in Georgia for the Daily Mail 

Shepherd yesterday said his victim’s parents were welcome to visit him in a Georgian prison.

The convicted killer, who has infuriated Charlotte Brown’s family by blaming her for her own death in a speedboat accident on the Thames, said via his legal team: ‘I wish to speak to you very soon.’

One of his lawyers, former model Mariam Kublashvili, has branded Shepherd ‘a victim of the British justice system’ and vowed he will fight attempts to extradite him back from Georgia to the UK. 

Jack Shepherd, pictured in a courtroom in Tbilisi, Georgia, went on the run before his trial and was found guilty in his absence

Jack Shepherd, pictured in a courtroom in Tbilisi, Georgia, went on the run before his trial and was found guilty in his absence

She said: ‘He wishes to see her mother and father and speak to them as soon as possible. He wants to tell them what happened. He knows he should have spoken to them long ago.

‘He said he was extremely depressed over what happened. He was suicidal when he first came to Georgia.’

Last night there was no response to the invitation from Miss Brown’s mother Roz Wickens, 53, of Clacton, Essex, or her father Graham Brown, 55, of Sidcup, Kent.

One of his lawyers, former model Mariam Kublashvili (pictured), has branded Shepherd ¿a victim of the British justice system¿

One of his lawyers, former model Mariam Kublashvili (pictured), has branded Shepherd ‘a victim of the British justice system’

Miss Wickens had told The Sun on Sunday: ‘I want to look him in the eye and ask him how Charlotte died. He was the last person to see my beautiful daughter so only he can tell the truth about what happened. I want to give him a chance to give an honest account – but I can’t imagine that he will agree to see me. He’s a weasel.

‘It’s time that he shows remorse and stops lying. He’s convinced himself that he’s the victim. It shows his incredible arrogance and lack of respect or empathy for anyone else. His moral compass isn’t there.’

Womaniser Shepherd was convicted of Miss Brown’s manslaughter after trying to impress her by drunkenly speeding up the Thames in his defective boat, which capsized. He went on the run before his trial and was found guilty in his absence.

Shepherd fled to Georgia, but was able to claim legal aid and allowed to communicate with his lawyers from his bolthole.

He was then allowed to appeal against his conviction, funded by taxpayers.

Met police probe ‘clever’ speedboat killer’s network of friends and family who may have bankrolled him as he lived the high life while on the run in Georgia

  • Jack Shepherd, 31, had been at large for ten months until he turned himself in
  • He lived the high life while abroad despite claiming to be ‘suicidally depressed’ 
  • Web designer was a regular in a local restaurant and visited ski resort in Georgia
  • Police probe how he managed stayed on the run with enough financial support

Police are today investigating whether a network of family and friends could have helped speedboat killer Jack Shepherd stay on the run in Georgia.

The 31-year-old had been at large for ten months until he finally turned himself into police in Tbilisi last Wednesday after a Daily Mail campaign for justice.

But Shepherd spent his last few months on the run in a high rise Soviet era block of flats in Tbilisi’s sought after middle class residential area of Saburtalo.

Jack Shepherd

Charlotte Brown

Jack Shepherd (left) has continuted to blame Charlotte Brown (right) for the speedboat accident on the River Thames in London that killed her

He lived the high life while abroad, despite claiming to be ‘suicidally depressed’ amid his claims there was ‘no evidence’ of his guilt at an Old Bailey trial.

The web designer from Devon, was also a regular in a local restaurant, visited a ski resort in Georgia, took skiing lessons and dated women while at large.

Now, Scotland Yard has vowed to investigate how Shepherd managed to stay on the run with enough financial support for so long, reported the Daily Telegraph.

A force spokesman said: ‘If evidence of assistance is identified, we will submit a file to the Crown Prosecution Service for a charging decision.’

When he appeared at a court in Georgia last Friday, Shepherd tried to dodge extradition by claiming he could be murdered if he is sent back to a British prison.

Shepherd continued to paint himself as the victim, blaming Charlotte Brown for the speedboat accident on the River Thames in London that killed her.

His lawyers argued that ’emotional’ British jurors had made a mistake convicting him because they did not hear his testimony, even though he had fled the UK.

And they indicated they would contest his extradition, claiming Shepherd’s life would be in danger if he was returned to a British jail.

The speedboat owned by Shepherd who was found guilty of killing his date on the Thames

The speedboat owned by Shepherd who was found guilty of killing his date on the Thames

They said that is because Miss Brown’s father Graham, 55, of Sidcup, Kent, works in the Prison Service and had threatened him over the phone.

But Mr Brown, who is a semi-retired Prison Service data analyst, said the fugitive’s claims were a ‘preposterous fabrication’, adding: ‘That phone call did not happen.’

The judge remanded Shepherd in custody at Tbilisi’s high-security jail Gldani #8 for three months, to give both legal teams time to prepare for a full extradition hearing. 

Miss Brown, from Clacton-on-Sea, died after plunging into the icy waters of the Thames when Shepherd’s boat crashed during a Champagne-laden date in 2015.

Shepherd went on the run before his trial and jurors convicted him of manslaughter by gross negligence. He was sentenced to six years in jail but remained at liberty.

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk