Jack Shepherd, the man convicted of killing 24-year-old Charlotte Brown in a speedboat crash on the River Thames, has been released from prison. Shepherd, 36, was freed on licence after serving half of his six-year sentence for manslaughter by gross negligence.
Charlotte Brown died in December 2015 after being thrown from the boat when it capsized near Wandsworth Bridge, hitting a submerged tree trunk. Shepherd and Brown were on a first date, having met on an online dating site, and had been drinking champagne. The boat was in poor condition, the trial heard.
Shepherd was plucked from the Thames alive, but Brown was found unconscious and later died in hospital. He fled the UK and was convicted in his absence at the Old Bailey in 2018. He handed himself in to police in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2019 and was extradited to the UK.
In addition to the manslaughter sentence, Shepherd was serving a concurrent four-year term for wounding with intent, after attacking a barman with a vodka bottle in Devon in 2018. Appeal judges ruled in July 2020 that the 78 days he spent in custody in Georgia should count as time served, bringing forward his release date.
Released on licence, Shepherd will be supervised by probation staff and must comply with conditions. If he breaches them, he could be returned to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence.
