Canadian socialite Jasmine Hartin has been pictured in jail after she was charged with manslaughter by negligence in the shooting death of a prominent police officer in Belize – and could escape with just a fine, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Jasmine Hartin, 32, who is married to the son of British billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft, was taken into custody last Friday after Superintendent Henry Jemmott, 42, was shot behind the ear with his own revolver.
Jemmott had arrived in San Pedro last week, enjoying a fishing trip and hitting some bars with a friend while staying at a downtown hotel.
In her statement to police, Hartin claims she invited the veteran officer to her apartment where the pair drank and discussed her personal security.
Jasmine Hartin is pictured with her husband Andrew Ashcroft at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for their new resort on May 7
She told cops they later walked a short distance to the wooden pier by the Mata Rocks hotel, which was closed because of the pandemic.
Hartin told police that Jemmott said he was suffering from shoulder pain so she offered him a massage while he placed his service weapon on the dock.
It was when she picked it up to pass it back to him that that loaded gun fired accidentally, according to the statement.
Hartin was found at the scene by a security guard ‘hysterical’ and covered in blood, but clammed up and summoned a lawyer once she was in police custody, sources said.
The blonde socialite has spent the past four days holed up in a tiny concrete cell at the stiflingly hot police and magistrates court complex in San Pedro, the tropical resort’s only town.
She was seen pictured behind bars by local media in Belize on Monday evening.
Jemmott’s body is seen being brought to shore on Friday morning after it was seen floating in the sea earlier that day
Hartin will spend another night in a squalid Belize jail cell after her attorney, Godfrey Smith, emerged from the courthouse late Monday saying his client had been denied bail.
‘The charge is manslaughter by negligence. Bail has been denied. We appeal to the Supreme Court as is normal,’ he said.