Jasmine Hartin was cheered by inmates who called her "first lady to kill a cop" when she arrived in prison after allegedly shooting a Belize cop, according to an inmate who was locked up in cell adjacent to her. The 32-year-old socialite reportedly smiled, when she was congratulated by the other inmates after they addressed her as "first lady here to kill a cop."
The inmate, who identified himself as Jose, 48, told the Daily Mail that the daughter-in-law of British billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft was bloodied when she was hauled into the San Pedro police station on Friday. Hartin has been charged with manslaughter by negligence over the fatal shooting of a police superintendent in Belize last week.
Inside the Jail
According to Jose, Hartin was not at all cooperative when she was brought inside the prison. Instead, she threw a tantrum when guards refused to allow her to smoke or access her "pills." It is not known what pills she was carrying with her.
Hartin was detained following the discovery of the body of Henry Jemmott on a dock in San Pedro. She was later arrested although she reportedly insisted that she shot Jemmott by accident. He had suffered a single gunshot wound to the head.
Jose said that he "applauded" Hartin after learning that she had allegedly killed a cop, and praised her for being "the first lady here" to allegedly do so as she walked into her prison cell. "The rest of the guys applauded her and said you have guts to do something like that," the 48-year-old said.
Jose said that he was happy to hear of Jemmott's death, as he had previously searched him for drugs, and had evicted him from the island back in 2019.
However, Jose claims that once inside her cell Hartin told him that Jemmott was gunned down by someone from a passing boat. Hartin reportedly changed her tune when she was told that she would be charged with cocaine possession.
Throwing Tantrums
If Jose is to be believed, Hartin gave a completely different version of Jemmott's death. The account is completely at odds with a formal statement given days later in the presence of Hartin's attorney, in which the petite hotelier claimed she was handing Jemmott his service weapon when it accidentally blasted him in the head.
"I heard there was a shooting that night but I didn't know that she committed it," Jose told the outlet.
That said, Jose said that once inside the cell, Hartin started throwing tantrums when cops didn't allow her to smoke or take the pills. "They have a cell for the ladies and a cell for the men. I was right next to her. I can't say whether she was doing drugs or what, but she looked really f**ked up," Jose added.
"She was pissed off and cussing up the cops saying, 'You mother**kers, what the f**k is wrong with you guys?' because she wanted to smoke a cigarette.
"The cops didn't want her to smoke so she said, 'I need my f**king pills.' The cops didn't want her to have her pills, either. They were laughing at her," he told the outlet. "Afterwards she told me who she is and that she has a hotel. They took her out to bathe, gave her clothes, they took her out to test for the gunpowder," Jose continued.
Jose said he was stunned to see a wealthy, white woman behind bars in Belize but didn't know she was in a relationship with Andrew Ashcroft, the son of British billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft.
Jose further said Hartin refused a meal of tacos and handed him her juice saying she couldn't eat. He said her goodbye when he was released from custody later Friday.
"She was mad. She was pissed off. She didn't want to eat. I gave her a water bottle and she told me thanks. Then in the morning her lawyer came. All I told her was don't tell anything to the cops, just speak to your lawyer," Jose added.
In a separate interview with 7 News Belize, Jose claimed that Hartin was roughed up by police. "To be real with you, what I saw in the morning, in the night that they brought her, really they were roughing her up because it was a cop that died. So to be real with you, what I saw, it wasn't nice," he told the local outlet.
Hartin faces another week inside the hell jail where she is being kept in Belize. A judge is yet to decide if she will be released on bail, but she was ordered to stay behind bars over the weekend - and possibly until June 11, according to the Daily Beast.
