A judge has ruled speedboat killer Jack Shepherd will not face a fast-tracked extradition from Georgia back to the UK.
Shepherd, 31, appeared in court on Tuesday when a judge decided against accelerating the process for his return to Britain, according to reports.
He could remain in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, for several more months.
Attempts were made by prosecutors in Georgia to return Shepherd "urgently".
Before the hearing, a defence lawyer for Shepherd, Tariel Kakabadze, wrote on Facebook: "Prosecutor requested Jack Shepherd's urgent extradition according to simplified rules.
"We, Jack Shepherd's defense team are going to fight the request!"
Shepherd was convicted in his absence last year of killing Charlotte Brown, 24, on a first date in December 2015, when the speedboat they were in overturned in the Thames.
He handed himself into Georgian authorities last Wednesday after months on the run.
Shepherd, 31, was found guilty of the manslaughter by gross negligence of Charlotte Brown, 24, when the pair were thrown overboard in December 2015 on the Thames.
He did not attend his Old Bailey trial, instead going on the run for 10 months, and was sentenced in his absence to six years in jail.
Web designer Shepherd finally handed himself in to police in Tbilisi last week and is in custody before a judge hears Britain’s request to bring him back to the UK.
Today his lawyer in Georgia, Mariam Kublashvili, claimed the crime he was convicted of did not apply under Georgian law. She told the BBC: “What happened, in the river of Thames is not a crime by Georgian law.
“If their behaviour... is not in Georgian law a crime, the person must be not be extradited. He prefers to serve his sentence in Georgia. For him, it is better to stay here if it is possible.”
Justice Secretary David Gauke today condemned a death threat sent to Shepherd’s British lawyer as “completely unacceptable”.
The letter to Richard Egan told him to “remember Jo Cox”, the Labour MP murdered by far-Right extremist Thomas Mair. It references stabbing and bombing, and features a swastika and the words “Heil Hitler”.
Mr Egan, who has reported the letter to police, said: “It threatens my family. It suggests that I have been followed and that the writer knows where I live and where I work. There is a specific threat to firebomb my firm, endangering the lives of my colleagues.”
Former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, said the letter represented an attack on the rule of law.
