Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd freed just five years after being jailed for killing Tinder date in Thames crash
24 January 2024, 13:33 | Updated: 24 January 2024, 13:45
Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd has been freed from jail after serving just five years behind bars for a fatal crash on the Thames that claimed the life of his Tinder date.
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Charlotte Brown, 24, died during a speedboat ride on the River Thames on their first date in December 2015.
Shepherd drunkenly handed Charlotte control of the boat during a high-speed ride after wining and dining her at a restaurant in the Shard.
She fell out of the speedboat and drowned, while Shepherd was rescued from the water.
Ahead of his 2018 manslaughter trial, he went on the run and was convicted in his absence before being tracked down in Georgia.
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He contested extradition to the UK on human rights grounds, claiming that he was suicidally depressed and that his safety in a British prison could not be guaranteed.
He was eventually sentenced to six years in jail for manslaughter by gross negligence and was jailed in April 2019.
He was given a further four years for hitting a barman over the head with a vodka bottle in a hotel in Devon.
He has now been released automatically after serving just half his sentence.
Miss Brown’s family have said they are aware he had been released but refused to comment.
Shepherd has never expressed any remorse and has made no contact with the family since Charlotte’s death.
Her mother told MailOnline earlier this month: “I will continue to want to know what happened on the fateful night Charlotte was taken away from us, but I don't think I ever will.
“Only he knows what really happened as Charlotte cannot speak for herself. But if he came out with anything now, I wouldn't know if it was true because of all the stories he has told.
”JS will never tell the truth and I feel that the truth may implicate him further. He will never know or fully understand the true devastation he has caused me and my family.”
