Now he’s also set to get away with vicious glassing
‘The attack was hideous’
JACK Shepherd appears likely to get away with glassing a barman two years after killing Charlotte Brown on the Thames.
The thug launched a vicious attack on David Beech in March last year, around the time he went on the run from justice for killing his date while showing off in his speedboat.
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.
Yet he has not served a single day of that sentence and it now appears he will dodge justice for the glassing too.
For not only did the Crown Prosecution Service fail to confiscate his passport before he went on the run, it also said the horrific Devon case had been ‘finalised’, even though Shepherd never bothered to attend court.
Yesterday staff at the rural hotel recalled how he was ‘blind drunk’ when he staggered in on the evening of March 16.
The senseless attack on Mr Beech was captured on CCTV and immediately reported to Devon and Cornwall Police.
Officers arrested Shepherd and charged him with wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
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.
A source close to Mr Beech said: ‘He was very shaken by the attack, which was hideous and shocked everyone who knows him.
‘He is a wonderful guy and for someone to do that to him was just horrific. Even though it was some time ago, it is still very difficult for him.
‘He has been reluctant to speak about it but everyone would very much like Jack Shepherd to be caught.’
Yesterday the White Hart Hotel – a Grade II-listed establishment dating back to 1639 in the market town of Moretonhampstead – backed the Mail’s bid to bring Shepherd to justice.
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. A spokesman added: ‘Jack Shepherd was arrested and later issued with a postal requisition for the offence of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm. ‘[He] was due to appear at Newton Abbot Magistrates’ Court… but did not attend. A warrant was issued for his arrest and is still in place.’