SPEEDBOAT KILLER & TV REPORTER LOVER SPLIT
JAILED speedboat killer Jack Shepherd has split from the lover he shacked up with while on the run.
The callous romeo met Maiko Tchanturidze in her native Georgia after fleeing the UK to avoid a trial over the death of Charlotte Brown.
The 24-year-old was killed in a crash on the River Thames after Shepherd took her on a first date in the speedboat he said he had bought to “pull women”.
Maiko, 28, stood by Shepherd, 34, and they had planned to be together after his release from jail, which could be early next year.
But her pals have now said the relationship is over.
One friend of the former TV reporter – who was set on moving to
Britain but is now starting a new life in Italy – said: “Maiko has turned the page on everything that happened with Jack. She is getting on with her life.”
The news of the split came after it emerged Shepherd could be freed in January, after serving half his sentence.
He met Maiko in Georgian capital Tbilisi while on the run following Charlotte’s death. The marketing worker, who met Shepherd on dating app OK Cupid, died when his speedboat flipped over on the Thames in London during their first date in December 2015.
Charlotte, from Clacton, Essex, was pulled from the water unconscious and unresponsive – while Shepherd was discovered clinging to the boat’s hull.
Shepherd, of Exeter, Devon, skipped bail in 2018, shortly before his trial over Charlotte’s death, and fled to Georgia, He lived there with Maiko for four months, working as a freelance web designer, before confessing to her that he was a fugitive and handing himself in.
Shepherd vowed to fight extradition but then agreed to return to the UK, where he was jailed for six years for manslaughter by gross negligence. He also got four years for attacking a barman with a bottle while on bail.
Speaking exclusively to us in December 2019, Maiko vowed to stand by Shepherd until his release – and even revealed they had talked about getting married and having children.
Maiko’s friend added of their split: “She was very serious about him and had every intention of waiting for him to be released from jail but sadly it didn’t work out.”
A Justice Department source said Shepherd had “kept his head down” in jail and done little to jeopardise his automatic release. But Charlotte’s grief-stricken dad Graham said: “Shepherd has shown no remorse. It goes to show how outrageous our criminal justice system is.”
‘‘ Maiko has turned the page... She’s getting on with her life