GUILTY UK - Charlotte Brown (24) Manslaughter, London, 8 Dec 2015

[Tortoise]

A speedboat owner who killed his date in a crash on the River Thames has been granted the right to appeal his conviction, despite going on the run.

Jack Shepherd, 31, remains at large despite being found guilty of killing Charlotte Brown, 24, in a champagne-fuelled speedboat disaster in 2015.

Shepherd, of Exeter, was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence in his absence over the incident in December 2015 after failing to attend his trial.

Judge Richard Marks QC sentenced Shepherd to six years' imprisonment in his absence and said he had a 'totally cavalier attitude to safety'.

Police have been unable to track him down after he skipped bail, and he was not in court to face sentence in July despite pleas from his victim's family.

Speedboat killer granted the right to appeal his conviction, despite going on the run | Daily Mail Online

 

[Tortoise]

This reported 30th August 2018 -

[...]

An arrest warrant was issued and an international manhunt is ongoing.

Scotland Yard confirmed that Shepherd was “still outstanding”. Responding to speculation he may have fled the UK, a spokesman said: “We are pursuing a number of lines of inquiry.”

[...]

Shepherd, originally from Exeter, who lived on a houseboat in Hammersmith, west London, had denied manslaughter on the basis that he had “no duty of care” toward Brown. [...]

Man who killed woman in speedboat crash appeals while on run

 

[Tortoise]

Reporting upon conviction in July 2018 -

"Despite issuing instructions to his legal team by phone, police were unable to track him down and his whereabouts remain unknown."

[...]

In legal argument, [...] His defence team insisted they did not know where he was even though his solicitor had maintained telephone contact.

Jafferjee said the lawyers had been “dancing on pins” as they debated exactly what to tell the jury as the defence objected to the words “failed to attend”.

Police are also seeking Shepherd about another unrelated matter.

Man guilty of killing date in speedboat crash on Thames is in hiding

 

[SJ16321]

This is crazy. His legal team saying he doesn't want to attend court but can't say why and they don't know where he is but they can give him daily updates on proceedings?

It should be a case of no appeal rights until he makes an appearance. He's making a completely mockery of the system.

 

[Tortoise]

I don't think the police can be trying very hard to find him. He can't have that many places to stay, money will soon run out, so all they had to do was get the phone records of the solicitor and trace the calls on the number he was using to call them, even if only to get an idea of his general location.

Plus he can't stay on the run forever, I know he lived in a houseboat but he will need to be paid to live and I'm sure they could get his bank records. Who earns cash these days? He has a young child so I presume he isn't paying child support. It's fairly unbelievable. You see TV programs like Hunted and wonder if it's all a farce that they can track you down as soon as you so much as pop your head outside of a tent.

 

[Tortoise]

I wonder what his grounds of appeal are. He can't just appeal because he disagrees with the verdict, there has to have been an irregularity or new evidence or something like that.

 

[Tortoise]

The Daily Mail today offers a £25,000 reward to catch fugitive speedboat killer Jack Shepherd.

He is mocking the law by appealing his conviction and six-year jail sentence while being on the run. [...]

Detectives hunting Shepherd, of Paddington, central London, but originally from Exeter, Devon, suspect he may have fled the UK, possibly to Spain or Georgia.

The web designer is also wanted by police over a separate incident, having been accused of glassing a stranger in a pub causing grievous bodily harm in Newton Abbott, Devon.

Just two months after killing Miss Brown, Shepherd married his fiancee. She is now said to be raising their child alone.

The Daily Mail offers £25,000 reward to help catch speedboat killer Jack Shepherd | Daily Mail Online

(See linked article for Speedboat Reward Terms and Conditions)

 

[Tortoise]

The Metropolitan Police insisted the National Crime Agency was working to track him down, but revealed his passport was not seized before he disappeared. A CPS spokesman could not explain yesterday why prosecutors or police had not applied to confiscate his documents while he was awaiting trial.

[...]

The killer’s lawyers said it would be ‘negligent’ to dump Shepherd as a client just because he had absconded.

Police 'haven't got a clue' where speedboat killer Jack Shepherd is | Daily Mail Online

Another senior Government figure suggested that the very fact Shepherd appeared to have found money to abscond suggested he could be defrauding the legal aid system.

The source said: ‘He would only get full legal aid if he was not working. So if there is there anything that he hasn’t declared to the Legal Aid Agency – particularly unexplained income – he could be guilty of fraud.’

Top lawyers slam legal aid system after speedboat killer gets £100,000 in legal aid | Daily Mail Online

 

[Tortoise]

The company representing speedboat killer Jack Shepherd has hit back at claims made on the Mail Online offering a £25k reward to help catch him - saying they have a duty to represent their client whatever the circumstances.

[...]

"A legal aid certificate automatically extends to advice on appeal. The clients appeal is based on what the defence believe were legal errors made during the trial. The clients continued absence (we are not aware of his whereabouts) has no effect on the principle of an appeal which is purely based on matters of law and in fact we would be negligent and in breach of our professional duties were we not to proceed because the client had absconded. Previous case law confirms that an absent defendant still has the right to appeal against legal errors at a trial that took place in his absence.

"The merits of the appeal are considered by a single judge and in this case he has authorised the fact that the grounds of the appeal have sufficient merit to go before the court of appeal. The client’s absence has no bearing on that assessment and as the judge has given his authorisation we are duty bound to proceed with the appeal.

Solicitors representing speedboat killer 'do not judge' him

 

[SJ16321]

Disgusting this guy has legal aid yet loads of more deserving people can't get a single pounds help.

He should man up and face his sentence. A mixture of dicking around and complete disregard for safety has cost this poor girl her life. I think six years is getting off pretty lightly.

 

[Tortoise]

I just hope he loses his appeal and they double the sentence.

 

[Tortoise]

Jack Shepherd appears likely to get away with glassing a barman two years after killing Charlotte Brown on the Thames.

He was charged with grievous bodily harm for glassing the barman at the White Hart Hotel in Dartmoor, near his mother’s house. But prosecutors apparently felt he had been sufficiently punished with his six-year jail term for killing Miss Brown, 24.

[...]

By now on the run after the speedboat case, he also failed to appear at Newton Abbot Magistrates’ Court in June. A warrant for his arrest was issued.

Highlighting our £25,000 reward offer, the hotel tweeted: ‘Jack Shepherd is on the run. Back in the spring of 2018 he was caught on CCTV attacking a member of our staff.

‘If you have any information that could lead to his capture, the Daily Mail are offering a £25,000 reward.’

The CPS said the case was ‘finalised’ last September, which means Shepherd is unlikely to face prosecution for it.

However, police said an arrest warrant was still active.

Ministers order urgent review into loophole letting Jack Shepherd claim legal aid while on the run | Daily Mail Online

 

[SJ16321]

What a lovely chap. I couldn't disagree more with the not punishing him for that offence because he'd already received a sentence for another!? what kind of nonsense is that?

If I was the person who was glassed I'd be furious. Be interesting to know what his finances are like because the whole thing stinks of person with money is above the law as usual.

 

[Al Ka]

The web designer killed Miss Brown, 24, in a speedboat accident on the River Thames in December 2015.
---
The pair met on dating website OkCupid and Shepherd tried to impress her by taking her out on the water late at night.
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Shepherd and Miss Brown shared a £150 meal at the Shard, where they drank two bottles of wine.

They then went back to Shepherd's houseboat in Hammersmith and took champagne aboard the speedboat for a trip past the Houses of Parliament.

On the return journey, the speeding boat hit a submerged log and tipped over near Wandsworth Bridge.

Miss Brown was pulled from the water unconscious and unresponsive as paramedics battled in vain to save her.

Police admit 'no tangible trace' of fugitive speedboat killer Jack Shepherd

 

[Al Ka]

A bit older article but has snippets about him:

28 JUL 2018

A 'champagne Casanova' married a childhood sweetheart and had a child shortly after a speedboat crash that claimed the life of a young woman.

It was revealed in court that the missing man became married a short time after Ms Brown's death and now has a two-year-old child, according to his barrister.

However, the relationship broke down and Jack struggled to find work because of his drinking and his links to the case.
---
He regularly used his small red speedboat to “pull women” even though it lacked basic safety features and was an "accident waiting to happen".
---
On their date on December 8, 2015, Shepherd had been trying to impress Charlotte with a trip past the Houses of Parliament after a meal at Oblix in The Shard.

But after he handed her the wheel on their return journey, the boat hit a log and capsized, pitching the pair into the cold water of the River Thames.

The vessel was travelling at twice the speed limit for the stretch of water on the River Thames in London, the Old Bailey heard.

On-the-run Champagne casanova had child after killing woman in speedboat crash

I am confused, how long is he on the run? I thought it was recent, this article's headline is from July of last year and states that he went on the run then?

PS: I just reread this thread and yes, it seems he is on the run for over half a year. Who is feeding him that long?

They previously mentioned that he might be hiding in Georgia. Do they mean Georgia in US?

 

[Al Ka]

28th July 2018

Charlotte could be heard screaming "you're going so fast" in her mobile phone video before the crash.

Tragedy struck when Charlotte took the wheel and the boat hit a log and capsized - catapulting the pair into the cold water of the freezing River Thames in December 2015.

Shepherd managed to cling on to the upturned bow and call for help but Charlotte died from cold water immersion.
---
The jury heard how Shepherd's speedboat had a number of faults, having bought the red 14ft Fletcher Arrowflyte GTO from Gumtree to "pull" women.

'Champagne Casanova' married and had a kid while on the run after killing date

 

[Al Ka]

Due to legal shambles portrait in news in this case community of lawyers are speaking out. Published 2 days ago:
===
“If the legal aid rules permit a man on the run, who did not even attend his trial, to receive legal aid…then the rules need to be changed,” declared Lord Garnier QC, a former Solicitor General.

Eager to soothe the Mail’s wrath, the Ministry of Justice has “ordered an urgent review” to see what can be done to close this “loophole”
---
Response by Tuckers Solicitors, the firm instructed by Jack Shepherd, which was published in reply to the Mail’s article. It sets out a few essentials that you may not have gleaned from the breathless reporting. For one, the claim that Tuckers Solicitors received “nearly £100,000” in legal aid to represent Shepherd is untrue – it was less than £30,000, which for a complex four-week trial involving a homicide and, no doubt, technical expert evidence (experts who are paid out of that gross, VAT-inclusive figure), is not an unusual gross fee.

I emphasise “gross” because, as with all legal aid expenditure “gotchas”, the headline figures (where accurate) always represent gross payments, inclusive of VAT, and represent months of work in advance of the trial by numerous legal and medical professionals, as well as the trial itself.

But the Tuckers response also helpfully sets out the duties of defence lawyers in situations where defendants abscond. It is not as uncommon as you may think.

The first thing to note is that a defendant failing to attend court on bail does not automatically forfeit his right to legal representation. Sometimes, where a defendant fails to engage entirely with his lawyers and disappears, the solicitors and barrister will have insufficient instructions to act, and so will have to withdraw before the trial.

But where a defendant has given instructions as to what his case is, and then refuses to attend court, his solicitors and barrister are under a professional duty to represent his interests as effectively as they can.

They can’t simply assume guilt and walk away in disgust.
---
Jack Shepherd has been granted permission to appeal against his conviction (but not, contrary to the Mail’s claim on its front page, his sentence). The reasons are not yet publicly known; Tuckers refer in their statement to “legal errors made during the trial”, but the full picture will become clear when the appeal is heard. However, the numbers alone tell you that, in order for permission to have been granted, there will be merit in these arguments.

There is a genuine concern that something at his trial went seriously wrong. This is not some speculative attempt by lawyers to drum up funds by launching spurious appeals; if there was no merit, the application would be in the bin with the other 90 per cent of applications and no legal aid would be authorised at all.

(much more explained in the link)
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment...e-real-legal-aid-villains-are-the-government/

 

[Tortoise]

They previously mentioned that he might be hiding in Georgia. Do they mean Georgia in US?

No, I can't find it now but I read an article that stated it was Georgia, the country.

 

[Tortoise]

I'd saved a few links to this case as it was happening, intending to start a thread at the time but never did. I may as well post them here since we have a thread.

17 Mar 2017 Police treating death of woman in Thames speedboat accident as possible manslaughter | Metro News
20 Sep 2017 Man charged over Charlotte Brown death in Thames | Daily Mail Online
19 Oct 2017 First picture of web developer accused of killing woman he met on OkCupid after she fell from speedboat into Thames on first date
15 Nov 2017 Trial date set over death of Welling’s Charlotte Brown in River Thames speedboat accident
26 Jan 2018 Man denies manslaughter of Charlotte Brown on Thames speedboat date
2 Jul 2018 Man accused of killing his date in speedboat accident absent as trial starts

 

[Legally Bland]

I read an article ages ago about people such as web designers who basically just traveled around the world using airbnb for accommodation and working from their laptops over wifi. I don't know if this is a possibility.

But he would have to be paid via an electronic transaction of some kind which could be a sticking point.

I think it's more likely his family are funding him.