Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd has apologised “unreservedly” to the family of Charlotte Brown, but claimed it was her decision to accelerate the vessel on the Thames which led to her tragic death.
Awaiting extradition from Georgia, where he stayed after he fled his manslaughter trial at the Old Bailey last year, he said he agreed that he bears “some of the moral responsibility” for the 24-year-old’s death.
He said he apologised “absolutely, unreservedly” for the tragedy in December 2015, but said he was not solely responsible for the Thames tragedy, adding that there were a “number of factors” that led to the accident.
The pair were on a champagne-fuelled first date when they went for a late-night speedboat ride down the Thames.
Speaking from Tbilisi, Shepherd told The Sun: “I can understand why her family apportion the entire blame on me. But the reality is not quite so simple.
“Absolutely, unreservedly, I apologise for the role I played, and undeniably I did play a part.
“(Brown’s family) have my sincere sympathies and condolences and I understand why they apportion the blame as they do.”
The 14ft Fletcher Arrowflyte struck a submerged log near Wandsworth Bridge and overturned, throwing Brown to her death in the icy water in December 2015.
Shepherd told the paper that it was a joint decision for the pair to go out on the boat and it was Brown’s desire to drive it.
“Absolutely, unreservedly, I apologise for the role I played, and undeniably I did play a part”
- Jack Shepherd
Shepherd admitted it was his decision to permit her to take the controls, although conceded that he could have given her more instruction.
He said: “But it was ultimately Charlotte’s action to accelerate in the manner that she did, even though I failed to prevent her.”
The web designer, 31, is due to be flown back to Britain under police guard on Wednesday and is expected to appear at the Old Bailey on Thursday before starting his six-year prison sentence.
It comes after a jury found him guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence, and last July he was sentenced to six years imprisonment in his absence.
In December he was granted permission to appeal against the conviction and handed himself in to authorities in Tbilisi in January.
His surrender came after repeated public appeals by Brown’s family for him to return to Britain and face justice for her death. A date for his appeal has not been set.