He is a fooking prick. 

Running away from his trial means he will get clobbered on the jail time - quite rightly. 

Running away was moronic but manslaughter still seems way too harsh. Reckless endangerment?

Did you not study law? 

I can't help wondering what he was planning to do in Georgia long term.  I haven't seen anything that suggests that he's sufficiently wealthy to fund 40 years on the run.

"

The pair headed out on his 1980s, red, 14ft Fletcher Arrowflyte GTO which he'd bought from Gumtree. The court heard the boat was badly maintained.

Witnesses for the prosecution, who examined it after the accident, said it had a number of pre-existing defects, including "poor and sloppy steering" and a "partially opaque" windscreen.

On the night of the accident, Shepherd sped along the Thames towards the Houses of Parliament at 30 knots - well above the 12 knot limit for that part of the river.

It was cold and dark. He'd taken champagne on board, and according to his account, he let Charlotte take over the steering on their way back for a "thrill".

Prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee QC described that decision as "sheer madness".

Not long after Charlotte took the controls the boat crashed and capsized by Plantation Wharf."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44862378

This is the very definition of Gross Negligence manslaughter. 

He's a web designer so I suppose he could do that from anywhere.

Surprised his new gf is a model though. Frankly, she munts hard.

Fleeing justice is understandable in the circumstances. Killing the poor girl in the first place by driving like an absolute ****wit is not. Lock away the key.

I'm aware of the court's interpretation of gross negligence manslaughter:

1. the defendant owed a duty to the deceased to take care;
2. the defendant breached this duty;
3. the breach caused the death of the deceased; and
4. the defendant's negligence was gross, that is, it showed such a disregard for the life and safety of others as to amount to a crime and deserve punishment.

The law seemingly allows anyone to own a boat and pilot it around the Thames. Maybe if the law was more restrictive, he'd have had better training? You could argue whether the negligence was truly 'gross' or rather reckless.

Dux he wasn't driving. She was. They were both pissed.

Drunk, Speeding, had not bothered to maintain his boat, gave controls to a drunk girl who had no idea what to do and caused her death. 

If you can't see why that was seen to be gross negligence then I can't understand what would be. 

My lawyers would say no, it's not, Ray.

What would your lawyers say then?

They’d recuse themselves in the grounds of not wanting such a stupid client.

Heh

Your analogy doesn't work given neither of them needed a licence to pilot the speedboat. Technically they were both as qualified as each other.

What would your lawyers say Hank, come on...

Fred you are being a tit. 

HTH

Railway and Transport safety act enforced drink-drive limits on driving a boat.  As the rightful owner, the responsibility falls upon him to ensure that no one drives it while over the current road drink-drive limits.  I’ve refused a friend who wanted a go at driving my boat because I knew he’d had a spliff.

Ignorance to these offenses does not constitute any form of mitigation or defence.

Stix my point is neither needed a licence. The law hasn't set any objective grounds for competency when it comes to driving a boat. Both were drunk, both shouldn't have been on it in the first place. Absolute recklessness but manslaughter by gross negligence? If he'd been at the trial I think he could have argued that one down.

My original point was also that the media have played this up and demonised the lad, unfairly IMO.

Who's Hank?

Sorry, I thought you were the poster Hank. But you’ve been totally pwned on this thread, time to admit you are wrong?

Ray it sounds like you just need to complete some paperwork. Getting a car licence is actually quite hard, rightly so. The government should ensure competence by way of a test at least.

Teclis of course you're right he shouldn't have allowed anyone to pilot the boat while drunk or got into it himself in that state. Not disputing that.

R v Bateman (1925) gross negligence means:

In explaining to juries the test which they should apply to determine whether the negligence, in the particular case, amounted or did not amount to a crime, the judges have used many epithets, such as "culpable," "criminal," "gross," "wicked," "clear," "complete." But whatever epithet be used and whether an epithet be used or not, in order to establish criminal liability the facts must be such that, in the opinion of the jury ... the negligence of the accused went beyond a mere matter of compensation between subjects and showed such disregard for the life and safety of others as to amount to a crime against the state and conduct deserving punishment.

HTH 

The point is relevant though.  As the owner of the boat, just like the owner of a car, it is negligent to allow someone else to take control of the vehicle while over the drink drive limit.  This isn’t an optional thing, he willingly allowed her to drive while he knew she was over the limit.

That is, and has been previously tested in law, negligent rather than simply reckless.

Drunk or an insufferable aunt. 

I certainly think he was negligent handing the controls to somebody with no experience in the dark at speed whilst drunk.  Still amazes me that you can buy a fast boat with on training given that even experienced people with training get it wrong fairly regularly.

No kidding.  The coastal water boats are at least as bad.  People just bumming around with no idea what they are doing, inadequate safety equipment, no concept that maybe a radar reflector would help, no idea about the rules of the road.

Tbh it’s been long due an overhaul, god knows when that will actually happen. 

The irony is that the RYA provides world leading qualifications but they're voluntary so most people don't bother.

Well yeah, I mean slightly different branch of similar religion but I did the MCA safety and small boat skipper competency stuff.  Six courses in total.  But only the first two are mandatory for commercial work.  Just the basics would be a start for hobby boaters though.

Reminds me I should finally do a power boat course this summer.

I had missed the fact that he had been extradited and was now in prison over here. 

Will admit I too have some doubts about the manslaughter conviction, but he is clearly a ladypart and I’m not shedding any tears for him. Every chance it would have been argued down if he had been present at court. 

That being said, I am surprised he has only got another six months for skipping out in the first place. I’d have thought the courts would want to put a proper deterrent in place for that and he’d be in line for a couple of extra years at least.