Shepherd, 31, was found guilty in his absence in July 2018 of killing 24-year-old Charlotte Brown while they were on their first date on a speedboat in the River Thames in December 2015. Making the appeal last week, Shepherd’s lawyers said his conviction of manslaughter by gross negligence should not stand because some of the evidence used at his trial was collected during an interview in which police did not caution him or offer him a solicitor. Rejecting his appeal, Sir Brian Leveson said this morning: “When granting leave to appeal, the single judge made the point that the appellant should not be overoptimistic as to the outcome.

“That warning was prescient. The appeal against conviction is dismissed.”

Shepherd, originally from Exeter, went on the run ahead of his Old Bailey trial and fled to Georgia.

However, he was extradited to the UK in January this year after he handed himself in to the police.

Jurors at Shepherd’s trial heard that he and Ms Brown, from Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, had been drinking champagne and went on a late-night jaunt in his boat past the Houses of Parliament.

Shepherd handed the controls to Ms Brown just before it struck a submerged tree and overturned, tipping both of them into the cold water.

He was plucked from the Thames alive, but Ms Brown was found unconscious and unresponsive.

Following his return from Georgia, Shepherd appeared at the Old Bailey in April and was sentenced to an additional six months for breaching bail.

The Court of Appeal quashed his bail conviction and sentence on Thursday, but said he may face further proceedings in relation to his “egregious breach”.

He was jailed for a further four years at Exeter Crown Court earlier this month after he admitted wounding with intent in relation to a drink-fuelled attack on a barman.

The court heard he struck former soldier David Beech with a vodka bottle on March 16 2018 after being asked to leave The White Hart Hotel in Newton Abbot, Devon.

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