Speedboat ‘seduction’ ended in woman’s death

A woman was killed after a web designer used a speedboat as part of his “seduction routine” on their first date, a court heard yesterday.

Jack Shepherd, 30, met Charlotte Brown, 23, online just hours before their first date in 2015. They drank two bottles of wine at The Shard, central London, jurors at the Old Bailey were told, before allegedly taking a bottle of champagne on board Shepherd’s boat.

After Shepherd handed Ms Brown, from London, the wheel, the boat capsized and she was thrown into the Thames.

Shepherd, who is absent from his trial, denies manslaughter by gross negligence. The trial continues.