Jack Shepherd: Speedboat killer arrives back in UK after extradition from Georgia
British man says he has ‘come to terms’ with going to jail after spending 10 months on the run
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Jack Shepherd, the British man convicted of killing a woman on a speedboat during their first date, has arrived back in the UK following his extradition from Georgia.
The 31-year-old is believed to have been transferred to Metropolitan Police officers at Tbilisi International Airport on Wednesday and put on a plane bound for Gatwick.
The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed his arrival on UK soil after his flight landed at 9.20pm.
The so-called “speedboat killer” will appear in front of a judge at the Old Bailey on Thursday morning before he begins his six-year prison sentence over the death of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown.
A jury found Shepherd guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence in his absence after he skipped bail last summer and went on the run before finally surrendering to Georgian police officers in January 2019.
Pictures released by the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia on Wednesday showed a handcuffed Shepherd being led by two uniformed officers into a secure cell in the back of a van before he was taken to the airport.
Shepherd spoke with several British journalist from his seat on the Georgian Airways flight on Wednesday evening. He told ITV he wanted to “face the situation” and had “come to terms” with going to jail in the UK.
The 31-year-old also told the BBC: “I ran for fear. It wasn’t premeditated, it was just a case of being driven by an animalistic fear and jumping on a plane with not much of a plan.”
The web designer’s trial heard that he had been drinking champagne on a first date with Ms Brown when they went for a late-night speedboat ride down the Thames in December 2015.
His 14ft Fletcher Arrowflyte boat had a series of defects and was speeding when it overturned near Wandsworth Bridge, throwing Ms Brown to her death in the water.
Shepherd, originally from Exeter, was plucked from the cold river. He made his last appearance before the Old Bailey in November 2017 to deny manslaughter.
It was at the start of his trial last June that it emerged he would not attend court but he remained in regular contact with his defence team who pushed on without him.
The jury found him guilty and Judge Richard Marks QC sentenced him in absentia.
But Shepherd will be returned before the judge from 9.30am on Thursday for the execution of a bench warrant.
Then his prison sentence awaits. He could also face extra jail time for absconding but it is not yet known when a judge may add to his sentence.
Shepherd was granted permission to appeal against the conviction in December and surrendered to authorities in Tbilisi the following month.
The family of Ms Brown, from Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, had publicly campaigned for Shepherd to hand himself in.
Her father Graham Brown told ITV after Shepherd agreed to extradition last month that he had a weak case and “no choice” but to return.
Georgia’s justice minister formally approved the process on Monday. Shepherd also faces a grievous bodily harm charge over an alleged assault in Devon on 16 March last year.