Speedboat killer’s victim ‘could have been thrown into water before crash’

Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd’s victim might have been ‘thrown’ into the water before he crashed, according to a documentary.

Charlotte Brown, 24, died after Shepherd drunkenly raced along the Thames and flipped his boat – before going on the run.

He was finally jailed for manslaughter after the Daily Mail tracked down his bolthole in Georgia in 2019. Now police and Miss Brown’s family have revealed she could have fallen into the water before the crash even happened.

It can also be revealed that Shepherd – a self-styled Casanova who bought his speedboat to ‘pull women’ – got married to someone else just a day after police quizzed him about the accident that killed Miss Brown, from Clacton, Essex.

She died in December 2015 after going on a first date with web designer Shepherd, who wined and dined her at a restaurant in The Shard before trying to seduce her with a trip past the Houses of Parliament in his defective speedboat. He claimed it must have hit a log before capsizing in the dark.

Shepherd, 31, originally from Exeter, was rescued and Miss Brown died. He was heard crying to rescuers ‘help me’ rather than ‘us’. Now a new ITV documentary has pieced together fresh witness evidence. In the programme, Detective Superintendent Chris Davis reveals a witness who saw the boat before the crash.

He said: ‘She remembered looking down from her flat, and she had only seen Jack Shepherd in the boat. She believed he was looking over [the] side of the boat. She couldn’t see Charlotte.’

Miss Brown’s father Graham said: ‘In my own mind, there is a distinct possibility something awful and tragic happened to Charlotte before the boat impacted on the pier. Maybe they had some argument. And then maybe she fell out.’ 

Her distraught mother Roz said: ‘I am adamant Charlotte was thrown out of the boat before. My belief is that he staged the crash.’

Shepherd, 31, originally from Exeter, was rescued and Miss Brown  (pictured) died. He was heard crying to rescuers ‘help me’ rather than ‘us’

It can now be revealed that the day after Shepherd’s second police interview on February 8, 2016, he got married to his childhood sweetheart.

It was nine weeks after the crash. The killer and his wife had a baby, born less than a year after the death of business consultant Miss Brown.

Shepherd ran away in March 2018, ahead of his Old Bailey trial. He was sentenced to six years in his absence.

• The Speedboat Killer: The Killing of Charlotte Brown is on tonight and Tuesday at 9pm on ITV2 and ITV Hub.

In the programme, Detective Superintendent Chris Davis reveals a witness who saw the boat (pictured) before the crash