A man who killed a woman in a speedboat crash has been jailed for an extra six months for fleeing the country.
Jack Shepherd fled the UK before his sentenced to six years for the manslaughter of Charlotte Brown who died in a speedboat crash on the River Thames. He returned to the UK on Wednesday evening after 10 months on the run.
IMEDI TV/REUTERS
Jack Shepherd
The 31-year-old pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to breaching bail and absconding, he was sent to prison begin his six and a half year sentence.
Judge Richard Marks said: “Charlotte’s family were, of course, devastated by the circumstances by which she met her death, and those feelings were greatly exacerbated by the fact you chose to go on the run.
“Your conduct in absenting yourself from justice for so long was as cowardly as it was selfish.”
Shepherd and Ms Brown met through a dating website called OkCupid. On their first date in December 2015 they had went for dinner at London’s Shard skyscraper before Shepherd took Ms Brown on his speed boat. On mobile phone footage that was filmed during the date Ms Brown could be heard shouting that they were going “so fast” as Shepherd drove at more than double the speed limit for boats. The speedboat which Shepherd told police was to pull women hit a submerged log and tipped over, it sprung them both into the water. Shepherd was found clinging to the hull but Ms Brown was pulled from the water unconscious and she died in hospital.
Charlotte Brown
Shepherd has been granted the right to appeal against his conviction.
Ms Brown’s father Graham said the family felt “a sense of relief”.
He said: “Due to Shepherd’s recklessness and negligent actions Charlotte isn’t here to defend herself.”
Shepherd had been in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi since March 2018 and handed himself in to police in January 2019. He was arrested when he handed himself into police just a day after Ms Brown’s family met the Home Secretary Sajid Javid. In an interview with the police, Shepherd described the incident as ” a tragic accident”. The Met Police said they were informed by the National Crime Agency that Shepherd was in the custody of police in Georgia.
