British Newspaper Appears to Base Story on Jasmine Hartin’s Caution Statement

And while police investigate how Hartin’s caution statement could have been leaked and/or sold to the international press, one media outlet in the United Kingdom seems to have based their Sunday edition story on portions of it.  The Daily Mail reports that for the first time they can reveal details of the case or what they term, “her story” and that “Although she has not spoken directly to the Mail, this newspaper understands that she told police the gun went off and he [Superintendent Jemott] fell on top of her bleeding.”  The paper continues to say that she told police that as she was wriggling to free herself and see if he was okay, he “slipped into the water.”  According to the Mail, the thirty-two-year-old Canadian woman is reported to have told police that she and Jemmott had been drinking on the pier in San Pedro on the night in question and she had been practicing loading and unloading his gun.  She claims it went off accidentally after the magazine became stuck.  According to the Mail, she says she did not know there were any bullets in the chamber because she saw Superintendent Jemmott take some out and put them to the side. According to the Mail, the police officer who has been friends with Jasmine Hartin for years had suggested she get a gun following an incident at a party in Belmopan on May twenty-second when she says a man had become aggressive towards her. Hartin, who has two children with resort owner Andrew Ashcroft, has since been remanded to Hattieville Prison after her attorney’s bail application was rejected and an appeal was made to the Supreme Court.  A decision on that is expected later this week.  Because Jasmine Hartin is the mother of Sir Michael Ashcroft’s grandchildren, the case has gotten considerable international press coverage, particularly from newspapers in the United Kingdom such as the Daily Mail which has sent reporters to Belize for interviews, photographs, video footage and documents related to the case.