Jack Shepherd, known as the 'speedboat killer', has admitted violently assaulting his girlfriend, including attacking her with a set of barbecue tongs. On Tuesday, over a prison video link, the 38-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of criminal damage. The assaults occurred in February and June last year and led to Shepherd being recalled to prison.
Details of the assaults
According to a prosecution summary, Shepherd admitted pinning down the woman and 'punching her several times causing bruising to her arm and top of leg' during an argument in February 2025. In a second incident in June 2025, he became angry that his partner had burnt 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 during the same month.
Recall to prison and background
Shepherd was originally jailed for 10 years in 2018 for the manslaughter of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown, who died when his speedboat crashed on a first date on the River Thames. He skipped his Old Bailey trial and was on the run in Georgia before being extradited back to the UK. He was released on licence in January 2024 but recalled to prison in September last year after the new assault allegations emerged. At the Tuesday hearing, prosecutors agreed to drop two additional charges of controlling or coercive behaviour and intentional suffocation.
Current custody and sentencing
Shepherd entered his guilty pleas via video link from HMP Swaleside in Kent. Judge Martin Edmunds KC, the Recorder of Kensington and Chelsea, remanded him into custody until a sentencing hearing in September. The judge also ordered a probation report on Shepherd's progress during his time on licence in 2024 and the first half of 2025. Shepherd told the court that his latest release date from the manslaughter sentence is January 2029.
Previous criminal history
In his manslaughter trial, the court heard that Shepherd, a web developer, met Ms Brown from Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, for a first date and offered to take her on a speedboat ride. Both had been drinking champagne, and Shepherd handed the controls to Ms Brown moments before the boat struck a submerged tree and capsized, throwing both into the cold water. Shepherd was rescued alive, but Ms Brown was found unconscious and never regained consciousness. He denied gross negligence manslaughter but did not testify. Additionally, in 2019, he was sentenced to four years at Exeter Crown Court for a drink-fuelled attack on a barman at The White Hart Hotel in Newton Abbot, Devon, on March 16, 2018. News of his latest offences emerged in a Parole Board report last month.
