Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd posts a sick memoir to Amazon from his prison cell.
He capitalizes on the tragedy of Charlotte Brown, who died on their first date while drunkenly speeding down the Thames and flipping her fast contraption.
Shepherd is serving six years for his manslaughter. But far from accepting his punishment, he secretly writes down his twisted version of events with the help of his best friend during prison visits. The couple now hope to get rich by selling their macabre £3.99 book about his life and crimes using Amazon’s online Kindle store.
Last night her father, Graham Brown, said: ‘Jack Shepherd has shown no empathy or remorse for the terrible events that led to Charlotte’s death. He’s a proven liar and is another example of Shepherd trying to convince himself he’s innocent.
Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd posts sick memoir to Amazon from his jail cell
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Charlotte Brown, pictured, died on her first date with Shepherd when he crashed her speedboat on the River Thames in 2015
“It must be remembered that a jury at the Old Bailey found him guilty and absolutely responsible for Charlotte’s death. Charlotte isn’t here because of this man’s actions.
“It’s another insult to the family, and I have no doubt that Shepherd’s version in the book is a complete fabrication and full of lies.”
Amazon and the Department of Justice are facing questions about how a convicted prisoner can sell his story.
The biography traces Shepherd’s sordid life before giving a twisted account of the night Miss Brown, 24, was killed in 2015.
After her death, Shepherd, 35, fled to the former Soviet state of Georgia rather than explain her actions to a jury and Miss Brown’s devastated family.
His trial took place without him in July 2018 at the Old Bailey, where he was found guilty. But he caused national outrage when he successfully claimed public money from his asshole legal aid to pursue an appeal.
After her death Shepherd, 35, fled to the former Soviet state of Georgia rather than explain her actions to a jury and to the devastated family of Miss Brown, pictured, the speedboat belonging to the web designer of £150,000 a year.
The Mail tracked him down in January 2019. He was returned to the UK and has been in jail ever since.
But instead of quietly serving his time, the Mail found he was helping his best friend write a biography. The law prevents criminals from profiting from the memoirs, but the duo cast the book as a “work of fiction”, simply changing the place names and those of everyone involved, but leaving the story unchanged.
The working title of the 207-page memoir was My Mate The Speedboat Killer. The Mail does not publish its new headline.
Shepherd’s best friend – whose identity is not revealed by the Mail – tried to peddle the book to newspapers, but was rejected. So they wrote it as a “fictitious” story, changing Jack’s name to “Keith” and his friend’s name to “Clive”. In the first chapter, they describe how they plotted the biography of Britain’s ‘most wanted man’.
Shepherd, a £150,000-a-year former web designer, was sent to Frankland Prison in Durham and asked his friend to pay him regular visits to record his story.
He said his lawyers told him ‘it could cause problems with the parole board’ if they wrote the book, adding: ‘It has to be done right’. Some omissions are necessary. The names have changed. The places too. You will have to say that it is a fictitious account. It has to be about it – but not really about it. If you know what I mean.’ The couple even recorded how they haggled over any product. After discussing rules preventing inmates from profiting from a crime, they agreed to “send money” to Shepherd’s wife and child. “Keith” wanted half the profits, “Clive” suggested a quarter, and they agreed on a third.
The book is a fictional account of Jack Shepherd’s “wife and cocaine use”.
The memoir describes Shepherd’s womanizer and his use of cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine and marijuana. “Keith” even brags about having dated three women at once. The Mail chooses not to detail the part of the book describing the speedboat accident.
The book was self-published on Amazon for Kindle e-readers. Authors who use the company’s Kindle Direct Publishing arm set the selling price. Amazon keeps some of the money and pays the author a royalty – usually around 70% of the price, less an administration fee.
In the case of Shepherd’s book, the author is likely to owe around £2.70 per copy sold.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: ‘Prisoners are never allowed to profit from their crimes and we take all necessary steps to prevent this, including legal action if necessary.’
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment last night.
