A man has been charged over the death of a young woman who was thrown from a speedboat into the River Thames.
Charlotte Brown, known as Charli, was pulled from the water unconscious near Wandsworth Bridge in December 2015 and later died in hospital.
Jack Shepherd, from Abergavenny, Wales, has been charged with manslaughter by gross negligence. The 30-year-old will appear at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on 18 October.
Brown, aged 24, was on an online date when the incident occurred. The pair had dined at the Shard in central London before their speedboat trip.
Officers from Wandsworth Borough and the Marine Support Unit attended alongside the National Police Air Service, the Coastguard, LFB and LAS.
At the time, police deemed Brown’s death non-suspicious, but the Crown Prosecution Service suggested a potential manslaughter offence should be investigated and the Homicide and Major Crime Command took over the inquiry.
The man Brown was with on the night of the date was pulled from the water and also rushed to hospital. He survived and assisted officers “as a significant witness” after he was discharged from hospital.
Brown, a English literature graduate, who loved flying and enjoyed success in the air cadets as a solo glider pilot, was a “confident swimmer”, her family said.
However it is feared she was not wearing a life jacket when she fell overboard.