Ex-cop jailed for 10 years for causing river deaths of four paddleboarders

A FORMER police officer who ran a paddleboarding company has been jailed for 10 years and six months after four people drowned during an excursion on a river in South-West Wales.

- GEORGE THOMPSON

Nerys Bethan Lloyd organised a stand-up paddleboarding tour on the River Cleddau in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in October 2021 despite “extremely hazardous conditions” and weather warnings in place.

Lloyd failed to warn the group about a weir on the route or how to navigate it.

The participants were swept over, with some becoming trapped under the fast-moving water.

Andrea Powell, 41, from Bridgend, Morgan Rogers, 24, from Merthyr Tydfil, Paul O'Dwyer, 42, from Port Talbot, and Nicola Wheatley, 40, from Pontarddulais, Swansea, all died.

Lloyd, 39, from Aberavon, was the owner and sole director of Salty Dog Co Ltd, which organised the tour.

She pleaded guilty to four counts of gross negligence manslaughter and one offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act in March, and was sentenced by Mrs Justice Dame Mary Stacey at Swansea Crown Court on Wednesday, April 23.

Lloyd, a former firearms officer for South Wales Police, appeared in the dock wearing a white shirt and dark trousers.

She stared straight ahead at the judge as her sentence was read out.

Mrs Justice Stacey told the court that the four people who died had been “cut off in their prime, with so much to live for and look forward to.”

She told the defendant: “There was no safety briefing beforehand.

“None of the participants had the right type of leash for their board, and you didn't have any next of kin details.

“No consent forms were obtained. There had been no mention to the group of a weir on the river and how to deal with it and no discussion of the tidal river conditions whatsoever.”

The judge said there were Met Office weather warnings at that time, as well as a flood alert in place through Natural Resources Wales.

She told Lloyd that she had watched CCTV footage of the incident, which she described as “too distressing” to play in court.