I’m not a cocaine addict or a murderer, says Tory peer’s daughter-in-law Jasmine Hartin in explosive Piers Morgan chat
IT was a shocking killing in a sun-kissed paradise that had reverberations around the world.
Jasmine Hartin – who was married to multi-millionaire Tory peer Lord Ashcroft’s son Andrew – shot dead her pal, chief of police Supt Henry Jemmott, in Belize in May last year.
The 33-year-old socialite, who was enjoying a late-night drink on a jetty with Jemmott, 43, when the killing occurred, insists it was just a tragic accident.
Now, in a TalkTV interview with Piers Morgan airing tomorrow, Canadian Hartin – who has been charged with manslaughter and is facing a bitter custody battle with her ex over their five-year-old twins – has given an in-depth account of that fateful night.
In an extract from the explosive interview, she tells the presenter and Sun columnist she is being set up and suggests the gun could have gone off because it was rusty . . .
Piers Morgan: “You don’t dispute that you fired the gun that killed Henry Jemmott?”
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Jasmine Hartin: “No, it was a tragic accident. I don’t ever remember touching the trigger of the weapon.
“But I was holding it when it went off. That’s correct.”
PM: “Before you get to this little jetty where you had this late-night drink with Henry Jemmott, I want to take you to life before this incident. What was your life like in Belize at the time?”
JH: “It was exciting. I had my children. Andrew and I had just opened Alaia hotel. We were looking forward to the future.”
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PM: “I’ve read varying reports about the status of your relationship with Andrew Ashcroft. Can you clarify whether it was happy at the time — or whether you had problems?”
JH: “Andrew and I had a lot of issues in our relationship, specifically the last year and a half. We were sleeping separately, we were keeping appearances together.”
PM: “Belize has been agog with rumours that you were having some kind of other relationship with Henry Jemmott. That’s why you were out on this jetty late at night by the ocean.
“That’s why you were partying together. What do you say to those rumours?”
JH: “I met Henry through Andrew. Andrew was friends with Henry. So Andrew was meant to come with us and join us for a cocktail that night.
“Last minute, he decided to stay in and not join us. So we weren’t meant to be by ourselves. The rumours of Henry and I, that’s completely false.
“We were friends. It’s just a small country with a rumour mill.”
PM: “Part of the narrative is from people who’ve painted a picture of quite a wild, socialite party girl.
“There are videos of you sort of dancing in the rafters of restaurants and so on, that you were heavily into cocaine abuse, and drinking heavily. Why are people going around saying this kind of stuff?”
JH: “I’ve wondered the same thing. The only thing I can come to think of is who would benefit from such rumours?
“Obviously, it would benefit in the custody case, it would benefit in many ways if I’m perceived to be this wild cocaine addict party girl. It’s just not true.”
PM: “So you end up on this little jetty with Henry Jemmott. He’s a police chief.
I don’t ever remember touching the trigger of the weapon. But I was holding it when it went off.
Jasmine Hartin
“He’s married with five children. You’ve got a bottle of wine. What are you talking about?”
JH: “We were listening to music. I had my little speaker with me. He was talking about his relationship, about the day he had.
“He went fishing. It was just small talk. Henry was my friend.”
PM: “You’re on the jetty, it’s late. You’re having drinks. And he’s got a gun, a Glock gun. So, just explain to me why he has the gun on him.”
JH: “It was a full moon. It was beautiful. So we said, ‘Oh, let’s go sit on the dock’. And he said before we went that he wanted to go get his gun.
“And I thought that was strange.
“He said that he always brings it everywhere with him. So he went and got it.”
PM: “Right, so he goes and gets his gun and he brings it to the end of the dock. And then you start to play some sort of game with the magazine with the bullets. What were you doing with him?”
JH: “It wasn’t a game. Henry thought that it was important for me to get my firearms licence, because he thought I needed protection.
“So this is the second time he’s had me handle his firearm.
“The first time was only a few days prior to that, when I called for help. And he had me handle his firearm that night.
“He said, ‘Get familiar with it — you should get your licence’.
Andrew and I had a lot of issues in our relationship, specifically the last year and a half. We were sleeping separately, we were keeping appearances together.
Jasmin Hartin
“He wanted me to practise unloading it, reloading it.”
PM: “It seems an odd thing to be doing at that time of night, on the end of a dock on a starry night. It’s just the two of you . . . to be handling guns with live ammunition.”
JH: “I thought it was empty. The only time I handled the weapon was at the very end when Henry asked me to pass it to him.”
PM: “You are familiar with guns, aren’t you? You know how to use them and fire them?”
JH: “I’m not familiar with nine millimetres. No.”
PM: “Right. But I’ve seen videos, which I know you will have seen too — of you expertly shooting a watermelon, for example, on the beach, firing at a range. And you’re certainly, it seems to me, a proficient shooter. You know what you’re doing with a gun.”
JH: “I’ve never owned a gun in my life. I’ve never owned a firearm.
“I’ve fired them, you know, a few times — but I’m not an expert. And what that video doesn’t show you is the ten times I tried to hit that watermelon and missed, and that video was shot by my ex.”
PM: “In the video clip, you look very proficient with a gun. You look like you know what you’re doing with the gun. The reason I’m asking that is that when this gun goes off, you claim you don’t even remember firing the trigger but even the most basic person using a gun with the most basic knowledge knows that to fire a gun you have to fire the trigger . . .
JH: “Right and I don’t remember ever touching that trigger on the gun so I don’t know what happened, to be honest. I was trying to get the clip out and it just went off — I don’t remember ever touching the trigger. So I’m not sure if it was a faulty weapon or not. I really can’t tell you how it went off.”
PM: “He [Henry] said to you that his shoulder was hurting and asked you to rub his shoulders?”
JH: “Yes, he asked me to rub his shoulder, which was weird, because he’s never asked me to do anything like that. But I don’t think it was a sexual thing. He had been fishing. It’s not something sexual if someone’s shoulder hurts.”
In the video clip, you look very proficient with a gun. You look like you know what you’re doing with the gun.
Piers Morgan
PM: “This seems a bit odd for you to be there, nearing midnight on a dock. And there’s this police chief asking you to massage his back.”
JH: “I could see how people would take it that way. But for me, it was not a sexual thing. I don’t believe that was his intention either.”
PM: “When you get to court, I’m sure they’ll try to paint this picture and say you were drinking, he made some move — and the next thing he is dead. There’s evidence to point to a scenario where you wanted to defend yourself.
JH: “There have been many different stories that I’ve heard. I’ve heard I’ve executed him, that it was an attempted rape and I was defending myself. I’ve heard that I lured him there and it was Andrew that shot him.
“The truth of the matter is none of that. He was my friend. He did not make a pass at me. I considered Henry like a protector.”
PM: “Where was Henry at the moment he was shot dead. How far away from you was he?”
JH: “He was sitting to my left, a foot or two away.”
PM: “When you realised the gun had gone off, what were your feelings?”
JH: “It was a loud bang. Then my ears were ringing, I was in shock.
“Henry fell on top of me. I could see blood and feel blood. Then I tried to wriggle out from under him. He started slipping into the water. I tried to catch him. He was a lot bigger than me, so I couldn’t hold him up.
“It was a horrible night that changed everyone’s lives. I have to live with that for the rest of my life. I don’t remember touching that trigger so I don’t know what happened. I just was trying to get the clip out and it just went off.
“So I’m not sure if it was a faulty weapon or not.”
PM: “It couldn’t have fired itself. Somebody has to pull a trigger on a handgun for it to fire a bullet.”
JH: “I’ve heard different things — it’s a faulty weapon, that sometimes it could go off if it’s rusty.”
PM: “I doubt it would have been rusty or faulty because it was his current service Glock pistol, and he’s the chief of police.
“So I would assume it was up to date and serviceable.”
JH: “The reports I received are different. In the disclosure, it does say the firearm was rusty. I’m perceived to be this wild cocaine addict party girl. It’s just not true.
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“I’m definitely not a murderer. And I am being set up. I am. I really am. It’s such a small country, everybody’s scared of Ashcroft here. They own the bank, they own the newspapers, they own the economy of this country.”
- Piers Morgan Uncensored, TalkTV, 8pm, Mon-Fri (Sky 526, Virgin Media 627, Freeview 237, Freesat 217 and Sky Glass 508) and live and on-demand on the TalkTV app and online at Talk.TV.
