Family visit speedboat killer in Georgia jail
JACK SHEPHERD, the so-called speedboat killer, has been visited in a Georgian prison by his mother and sister, it emerged yesterday, as relatives of his victim, Charlotte Brown, described their pain on what would have been her 28th birthday.
Shepherd, 31, has been detained at the maximum security Gldani jail in Tbilisi for five weeks after handing himself into the authorities following 10 months on the run.
A source close to the family told a Sunday newspaper: “Jack’s mum and sister made a short visit last week. He was delighted and it raised his spirits.”
Shepherd was convicted in his absence of killing Miss Brown, 24, when his boat flipped during a champagnefuelled ride on the Thames. The web designer from Devon was sentenced to six years’ jail for manslaughter by gross negligence but has not yet served a day.
Miss Brown, from Clacton-on-sea, Essex, died when she was flung into the river from his defective vessel on what was their first date in December 2015.
Graham Brown, her father, spoke yesterday of the family’s ongoing pain as they marked her 28th birthday. “Happy Birthday to my daughter Charlotte, always remembered never forgotten, missed every day.”
A request was last week submitted to extradite Shepherd to the UK.
Irakli Chilingarashvili, head of the international department of the Prosecutors Office of Georgia, said he was “very confident” the extradition would go ahead.
Shepherd, who went by the name Jack Grant while on the run, has vowed to fight extradition, claiming his life would be in danger if he served his sentence in Britain. He is said to be keen to explain his actions on the night of Miss Brown’s death to her grieving family, but they have made it clear he had that chance during his trial.
Shepherd’s legal team could not be contacted for comment.