More On:

belize

Inmate: Socialite arrested in Belize smiled when called ‘first lady here to kill a cop’

Slain Belize cop told pal he’d take identity of his date ‘to my grave’

Billionaire’s daughter-in-law held in Belize prison without bail in cop’s death

Billionaire’s relative admitted killing cop after she was threatened with coke charge: reports

The socialite charged with killing a cop in Belize has a past as mysterious as the crime of which she is accused.

Jasmine Hartin is married to the scion of one of the Central American nation’s wealthiest families — and has a reported penchant for hanging out in the tourist spot’s low-rent dive bars.

But further details of her life before she allegedly killed Henry Jemmott, a police official in the town of San Pedro, are murky. Reports even conflict on whether she is American or Canadian.

What is known is that the 32-year-old cemented herself in moneyed circles when she became the common-law wife of Andrew Ashcroft, the son of British billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft, according to the Daily Mail. The couple share two young children.

Hartin previously worked as a real estate agent for a firm in Belize from 2015 to 2017, according to her LinkedIn page — and she is now listed as an executive at a resort recently opened by her hubby’s family.

The Ashcroft Family

That family has strong ties to the Central American country.

Andrew has reportedly been a resident for more than 20 years and his businessman father was once the island’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Andrew has established himself as a hotel developer.

He appeared with Jasmine and their two children just weeks ago for the opening of the new resort, the Alaia Belize Hotel Autograph Collection.

Footage posted to YouTube showed a beaming Hartin — who wore her hair swept back and full makeup — look on as her hubby described that the opening as a “fulfillment of a dream” for them.

“A year ago, as the world faced an uncertain future, we and the Ashcroft family were concerned not just for the development or for our beloved homeland,” Andrew told the crowd in front of the resort’s pool.

“Little do we know that a great deal of tenacity and power and willpower lease has begun to emerge stronger than ever for the focus outlook of making a great comeback alive.”

Hanging With Locals

Though she was known to rub elbows with high society, Jasmine often kicked back with locals at the Crazy House Bar n Kitchen, a speakeasy in San Pedro, the Daily Mail reported.

“She would exhale as soon as she walked through the door because she could be herself here. She had a luxurious life but she enjoyed being with locals, she felt more alive,” owner, Gene Lopez, told the outlet.

“She explained that being rich, you have to be high and mighty, respectful, you can’t be yourself. And she enjoyed life, she enjoyed freedom.”

Jasmine was typically joined by friends, who were often police officers, Lopez said.

“For some reason, I think she was drawn towards police officers,” he told the outlet. “I think she felt a lot safer being with them. They would dance, they would talk, they would have laughs.”

It’s unclear if she paid a visit to the popular watering hole before she joined 42-year-old Jemmott for a night of drinking on a pier in San Pedro on Thursday.

Drinking Turns Deadly

The two had been socializing and drinking for hours before his body was found floating in the water with a bullet wound to the head, police said.

What happened to cause his death is unclear: One law enforcement source reportedly suggested that it was a pistol-based drinking game gone wrong, while an inmate who with a now-jailed Hartin claimed that she said that she accidentally shot the cop while giving him a massage.

The two had been socializing and drinking for hours on a pier before a security guard overheard a single gunshot and found Hartin “deeply distressed and shaking,” the Times of London reported.

“She was covered in blood when they found him so it looks like when [he was shot] he probably fell on her,” a woman drinking at the pier told the newspaper.

Jasmine was initially detained for questioning before she was charged Monday and transferred to Belize Central Prison.

She has retained attorney Godfrey Smith, who didn’t respond to request for comment.

Share this article:

Source: Read Full Article