Speedboat killer admits violent attack on woman

Jack Shepherd appeared at Tuesday's court hearing from prison via video link

Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd has admitted violently assaulting his former partner, including hitting her chest with a set of hot barbecue tongs.

Earlier at Isleworth Crown Court, the 38-year-old pleaded guilty over a prison video link to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and damaging property.

The attacks happened in February and June last year and sparked Shepherd's recall to prison.

He was originally jailed for 10 years for manslaughter in 2018 over the death of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown when his speedboat crashed during a first date.

Shepherd skipped his Old Bailey trial while on the run in Georgia, before he was eventually extradited back to the UK to serve his sentence.

He was set free on licence in January 2024, but faced recall to prison in September last year after he was accused of violence towards a woman.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Shepherd pleaded guilty to three offences.

Jack Shepherd was originally jailed for 10 years for manslaughter in 2018 over the death of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown

According to a prosecution summary of the case, he started dating the woman in August 2024, but towards the end of the year she accused him of being abusive and threatening.

In February 2025, Shepherd admitted pinning down the woman and "punching her several times, causing bruising to her arm and top of leg" during an argument.

In the second incident, in June 2025, Shepherd got angry with his partner for burning a pizza during a barbecue, and "proceeded to hit her with the barbecue tongs on her left breast which caused a permanent scar".

She also accused him of "belittling" her with jibes about her weight and age, and accused her of flirting with other men.

As part of the controlling or coercive behaviour charge, which Shepherd denied and was dropped by prosecutors, the woman claimed he had menacingly mentioned a violent former cellmate and allegedly told her it would be her "last day" if she said anything bad to his probation officer.

Judge Martin Edmunds said the law did not allow him to add any more time to the term Shepherd is already serving, which will see him released in January 2029.

Charlotte Brown died in December 2015 when Shepherd took her on a date on his speedboat

Brown, from Clacton, Essex, was fatally thrown from his speedboat boat on the River Thames, when it hit a submerged tree trunk, in December 2015.

Shepherd and Brown had been drinking champagne before he took her on the ill-fated boat trip past the Palace of Westmi