Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd is FREED from jail

Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd has as we speak been free of jail after serving simply 5 years behind bars for killing his Tinder date in a booze-fuelled Thames crash earlier than fleeing the nation.

Charlotte Brown, 24, was killed when Shepherd took her on a excessive velocity trip previous the Houses of Parliament in his faulty speedboat after wining and eating her in a restaurant on the Shard in a seduction routine he had practiced on a string of different ladies.

The enterprise guide apparently fell out of the 14ft speedboat and drowned after being swept away late at night time in December 2015, whereas Shepherd was rescued from the water.

He fled to Georgia and was jailed for six years for manslaughter by gross negligence on the Old Bailey in his absence in July 2018.

Shepherd gave himself up 10 months later, and was returned to the UK to start out his sentence, earlier than being given an extra 4 years in jail for hitting a barman over the pinnacle with a vodka bottle in a lodge in Devon.

The killer has now been launched from jail routinely after serving simply half of his sentence.

Shepherd had insisted that Charlotte was on the wheel when his boat hit a log and capsized close to Wandsworth Bridge, implying that she was partly in charge. But a witness on the balcony of a riverside flat challenged his story by saying she noticed a single determine on the helm wanting into the water, earlier than the boat hit a pier.

Charlotte who lived in London, however grew up in Welling, Kent, was discovered to be solely barely over the drink-drive restrict for alcohol after her physique was recovered whereas rescuers stated web site designer Shepherd appeared drunk.

His trial heard how he had purchased vodka, earlier than sharing two bottles of wine with Charlotte on the Shard and downing champagne on his boat which he had purchased on Gumtree.

The launch comes after Charlotte’s father Graham Brown, 60, warned final month that Shepherd shouldn’t be freed. 

Speaking to Good Morning Britian, he stated: ‘She was an exquisite daughter so lively. She had simply gotten a promotion and was wanting ahead to doing her driving take a look at.

‘She was 24 years previous – she had her life robbed from her.

‘For the household the heartache is the principle factor. Nothing will substitute shedding Charlotte however principally for us we nonetheless do not know what occurred as a result of Shepherd absconded from his trial.’

Mother Roz Wickens, 58, spoke to MailOnline initially of this month about her persevering with anguish over the lack of her daughter. 

She stated: ‘I’ll proceed to wish to know what occurred on the fateful night time Charlotte was taken away from us, however I do not assume I ever will.

‘Only he is aware of what actually occurred as Charlotte can’t converse for herself. But if he got here out with something now, I would not know if it was true due to all of the tales he has instructed.

‘JS won’t ever inform the reality and I really feel that the reality might implicate him additional. He won’t ever know or absolutely perceive the true devastation he has brought about me and my household.’

Roz added: ‘My coronary heart will all the time ache for the lack of Charlotte, however it doesn’t matter what occurs with the discharge of JS, nothing will convey her again.’ 

Shepherd – a self-styled Casanova who purchased his speedboat to ‘pull ladies’ – obtained married to another person only a day after police quizzed him in regards to the accident that killed Miss Brown, from Clacton, Essex. 

The 31-year-old, initially from Essex, was rescued when Charlotte died. He was heard crying to rescuers ‘assist me’ moderately than ‘us’. 

In an ITV documentary in regards to the case, Detective Superintendent Chris Davis revealed a witness noticed the boat earlier than the crash.  

He stated: ‘She remembered wanting down from her flat, and he or she had solely seen Jack Shepherd within the boat. She believed he was wanting over [the] aspect of the boat. She could not see Charlotte.’

The day after Shepherd’s second police interview on February 8, 2016, and 9 weeks after the crash, he obtained married to his childhood sweetheart. 

The killer and his spouse had a child, born lower than a yr after the demise of enterprise guide Charlotte. 

He had insisted that Charlotte was on the wheel when his boat hit a log and capsized close to Wandsworth Bridge, implying that she was partly in charge.

Roz is definite that her daughter would by no means have pushed a ship recklessly and believes that she was thrown out whereas he was displaying off by performing a excessive velocity manoeuvre. 

Part time supply driver Roz of Sittingbourne, Kent, believes that he would have drunk way over her daughter because of her comparatively low alcohol studying, though police didn’t breathalyse him on the night time of the tragedy.

She stated: ‘We do not actually know for positive what occurred. I’ve obtained my intestine feeling, however I do not know for sure. My feeling all alongside is that she fell out of the boat whereas he was driving, and he was left there.

‘He was seen alone within the boat by a witness when he appeared to be wanting spherical for her within the water.’ 

Roz added: ‘It has not been straightforward. I miss her tremendously. Words can’t clarify. For the sake of my different daughters Vicky and Katie and my grandsons, I attempt to placed on a courageous face, and be as regular as I can.

‘When individuals say that point heals in bereavement, it’s a million per cent incorrect. Time would not heal. That assertion is the other to how I really feel.

‘I all the time knew the discharge of JS [Sheppard] was going to occur in January as a result of Victim Support have stored us up to date, however it would not make it any simpler.’