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Ex-police officer jailed for 10 years over deaths of four people she led on paddleboarding tour
The Guardian
|April 24, 2025
A former police officer has been jailed for 10 years and six months after leading a paddleboarding expedition on a rain-swollen river that ended in four people losing their lives.
Nerys Lloyd, 39, pleaded guilty to four counts of gross negligence manslaughter and a Health and Safety at Work offence over the tragedy on the River Cleddau in Haverfordwest, south-west Wales in October 2021.
Morgan Rogers, 24, Nicola Wheatley, 40, Andrea Powell, 41, and Lloyd's co-instructor, Paul O'Dwyer, 42, died.
Mrs Justice Stacey told Swansea crown court Lloyd would be released no later than two-thirds of the way through her sentence and the remainder would be served on licence in the community.
The judge told Lloyd the group had put its trust in her but she had failed to check the state of the weir. She said it would not have been possible for a paddleboard to navigate the structure when the current was so strong and volume of water so large.
Stacey said that after falling from their boards, the party was caught in a "hydraulic spin", comparing it to a washing machine.
This story is from the April 24, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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