Speedboat killer will take case to European court if he loses appeal
SPEEDBOAT killer Jack Shepherd has vowed to pursue his ‘human rights’ at Europe’s top court to clear his name.
He is appealing against his conviction over the death of Charlotte Brown – whom he still blames for the tragedy. But if British courts reject his bid for freedom, he plans to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights – which has the power to rule his trial was unfair. Yesterday a source close to his legal team in Georgia, where he fled last year, said: ‘He will pursue every avenue to clear his name. Jack knows his rights...
‘He will take it to the European Court of Human Rights if he can. But he is quietly confident his first appeal will succeed.’ Shepherd, 31, was last July convicted at the Old Bailey in his absence for the manslaughter of Miss Brown, 24, who died when his speedboat flipped on the Thames on a drunken first date in 2015.
His legal aid-funded appeal is based on perceived legal errors made by the judge in relation to his police interview.
If it fails, he could ask the Strasbourg court to uphold his ‘human right to a fair trial’, claiming he was unable to defend himself properly at the Old Bailey – even though this is because he had absconded.
The Strasbourg court has nothing to do with the European Union and Britain will remain under its jurisdiction after Brexit.
Shepherd, a web designer who spent ten months living incognito in
‘Matters of luck and fate’
Georgia before a Daily Mail investigation tracked him down, is due to be extradited to the UK tomorrow to start his six-year jail sentence. He is expected to face an Old Bailey judge on Thursday.
He has issued a reluctant apology to Miss Brown’s parents, but shamelessly continues to blame her for her own death. He claims she was driving his defective speedboat when it hit a floating log.
He said from his cell in the Georgian capital Tbilisi: ‘Her actions led to the fatal accident.’
At his trial, prosecutors said that, if it was true, he was even more culpable for her death because as captain he should have known that Miss Brown, a business consultant from Clacton, Essex, had no experience with boats.
Shepherd said: ‘Ultimately, it was her action to accelerate in the manner that she did, even though I failed to prevent her. You see, it’s shared [responsibility].’
He added: ‘There are matters of luck and fate – an unseen log in the path of the boat. In the end I survived while Charlotte lost her life. Things could have been very different.’ He admitted ‘ some of the moral responsibility for Charlotte’s death’ and said he understood why her family blamed him.
Referring to Miss Brown’s parents, Graham Brown and Roz Wickens, he said: ‘Absolutely, unreservedly, I apologise for the role I played. But the reality is not quite so simple. I am very sorry for what happened. It was a tragedy and if I could do anything to change what happened I really would.’
Asked if he regretted fleeing before his trial, he said: ‘Primarily, yes. The consequences for me and others, the way I’m perceived, it’s upset a lot of people and it was against my own interests also ... But also, the choice I felt I faced ... was between running and suicide.’
Miss Brown’s mother said: ‘Nothing he says will bring my daughter back.’