A man who killed a woman in a speedboat crash during a first date on the River Thames has been charged with allegedly attacking his new girlfriend.
Jack Shepherd has been charged with counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH), criminal damage, intentional suffocation, and controlling and coercive behaviour. A public hearing has been granted as the parole board announced the charges.
The 38-year-old was originally given a 10-year determinate sentence after he crashed his speedboat in London, killing his date, Charlotte Brown, 24, who was a passenger on the vessel. He was released from prison early in January 2024.
Parole Board documents released on Thursday said his alleged victim, known as Ms X, was a woman in her fifties who lived in the same building as him, months after he was released from prison.
Just three months after his release, Shepherd was given permission to move from his approved premises to another property in the same area. He met Ms X shortly after and by August 2024, the two had begun an intimate relationship, the documents said.
The report added that Ms X was soon told by the police about Shepherd’s history, but the relationship continued. Towards the end of that year, Shepherd allegedly grew violent and coercive towards Ms X.
“The report from the police sets out that towards the end of 2024, the relationship with Mr Shepherd became violent and coercive on the part of Mr Shepherd,” the documents state. “Eventually, Ms X complained to the police and on the 5 August 2025 Mr Shepherd was arrested for controlling, coercive and violent behaviour.
“Several incidents of violence in February, June and July 2025 are detailed in the lengthy statement Ms X made to the police. Mr Shepherd was interviewed and in a prepared statement he denied the allegations.”
While Shepherd denied these allegations and was released on bail, Parole Board documents said he is accused of breaching his bail conditions by writing to Ms X and missing his 11pm curfew when returning to his approved premises. His licence was revoked in September 2025 and he was recalled to custody.
In a written judgement on behalf of the chair of the Parole Board, His Honour Nicholas Coleman ruled that a public parole hearing would now take place to decide whether Shepherd can be released from prison again.
Shepherd was sentenced for manslaughter and wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm (GBH) in absentia in 2018 after a court heard the circumstances under which Brown was killed.
She met Shepherd, at the time 28, on dating app Tinder and went out drinking with him before returning to his houseboat on the Thames in December 2015. Upon his suggestion, they went out in the speedboat for a “sightseeing” tour along the river, traveling at speed when they hit an underwater obstruction that caused it to capsize.
Brown and Shepherd were thrown overboard. While he survived and surfaced, police had to recover Brown’s body.
Prior to the trial, Shepherd fled to Georgia, eventually surrendering himself to authorities. He was extradited to the UK in January 2019.
