Speedboat killer: MPs call to end ‘abuse’ of legal aid
MPs yesterday demanded urgent action to end the ‘ abuse’ of taxpayers’ money being spent on fugitive speedboat killer Jack Shepherd.
He is getting tens of thousands of pounds in legal aid – despite being on the run – to appeal his six-year prison sentence for killing his date on a Thames boat trip.
Last week ministers pledged to ‘review’ the scandalous loophole.
The grieving family of Shepherd’s victim, 24-year- old Charlotte Brown, have called for immediate action, and MPs urged Justice Secretary David Gauke to get a grip on the scandal.
Senior Conservative Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 committee and MP for Altrincham and Sale West, said: ‘It is clearly wrong that somebody who is a fugitive from justice should be given legal aid assistance in this way. I hope the Government will look again at the rules as a matter of urgency.’
Mike Penning, a Conservative ex-defence minister, said: ‘This is an abuse of taxpayers’ money. He needs to be represented but victims must come first.’ Tory MP Andrew Bridgen demanded the rules be changed ‘ so people on the run cannot claim legal aid’. He said: ‘ It’s situations like this that undermine public confidence in our judicial system.’
The Daily Mail is offering a £25,000 reward to bring arrogant Shepherd, 31, to justice. He absconded before his Old Bailey trial last July, which went ahead in his absence. A jury found him guilty of manslaughter for drunkenly showing off to Miss Brown in his speedboat as they sped along the Thames in December 2015.
After the craft flipped over, web designer Shepherd, from Exeter, called for help for only himself.
Miss Brown was later declared dead after being pulled unconscious from the water. Home Secretary Sajid Javid has intervened in the case to say it is ‘ heartbreaking’ and he will meet the family later this month.
Miss Brown’s mother, Roz Wickens, 53, from Clacton- on-Sea in Essex, yesterday pleaded for the convicted killer to resurface. She said: ‘She was everything to me and I think about her almost every second of the day.
‘Life will never be the same without her. So please return and face the justice that was dealt to you.’
Police have no clues where in the world Shepherd is hiding. He is in touch with his legal aid lawyers in London, but they insist they do not know his whereabouts.