Jack Shepherd, the convicted 'speedboat killer', has admitted to violently assaulting his girlfriend, including striking her with a pair of barbecue tongs. On Tuesday, the 38-year-old pleaded guilty via video link from HMP Swaleside to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of criminal damage.
Details of the assaults
The attacks occurred in February and June 2025. In the first incident, Shepherd admitted restraining the woman and 'punching her several times causing bruising to her arm and top of leg' during a dispute. In the second, he became enraged after his partner burned a pizza during a barbecue and 'proceeded to hit her with the barbecue tongs on her left breast which caused a permanent scar'. He also admitted damaging her keys that same month.
Shepherd originally received a 10-year sentence for the manslaughter of Charlotte Brown, 24, who died when his speedboat capsized on a first date on the River Thames in 2015. He absconded during his trial at the Old Bailey and was later extradited from Georgia. He was released on licence in January 2024 but was recalled to prison in September 2024 after allegations of violence against a new partner emerged.
Court proceedings
At Tuesday's hearing, Shepherd pleaded guilty to three offences after prosecutors agreed to drop two further charges of controlling or coercive behaviour and intentional suffocation. Judge Martin Edmunds KC, the Recorder of Kensington and Chelsea, remanded him into custody ahead of a sentencing hearing in September. The judge requested a probation report examining Shepherd's conduct during periods he was at liberty in 2024 and 2025.
Shepherd told the court that his release date from the manslaughter sentence is January 2029. He also received an additional four-year sentence in 2019 for a drink-fuelled assault on a barman in Newton Abbot, Devon.
