Former police officer jailed over 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.

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.

Paul O’Dwyer, 42, Andrea Powell, 41, Morgan Rogers, 24, and Nicola Wheatley, 40, all died.

Lloyd, 39, from Aberavon, south Wales, 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.

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.

A conversation between Lloyd and her wife was inadvertently recorded on her phone hours after the incident.

She could be heard saying she was “finished” and the incident was “100%” her fault, but blamed Mr O’Dwyer in the aftermath of the incident.

She also rejected the suggestion that the plan had been to go around the weir.

“It is clear to me that you intended for the group to go through the weir,” she said.

“Paul (O’Dwyer) had researched alternative routes that would avoid crossing the weir, all of which were dismissed by you.

“He raised valid concerns that you ignored. Your interest appeared to be more of an exciting route rather than safety.”

The judge accused Lloyd of being “lax” when it came to health and safety, despite her training as a police officer and as a volunteer for the RNLI.

Handing Lloyd a 10-year and six-month sentence, the judge told Lloyd: “I accept you are desperately sorry for what happened that day.

“Your life has also been massively impacted. But being sorry for what happened is different from remorse.”

Lloyd showed no emotion as her sentence was read out, only nodding at the judge and mouthing “thank you”.

Mark Watson KC, for the prosecution, told the court on Tuesday that Lloyd and Mr O’Dwyer, who helped act as an instructor, were “not remotely qualified” and that the stretch of river had a “real potential for danger”.

David Elias KC, for the defence, quoted a statement written by Lloyd to the court on Wednesday.

He said: “I take full blame (for the incident) that meant four extremely special individuals are not here today.

“The pain for me has been unbearable but the pain for the families unmeasurable.

“There were nine people on the river that day and every one of them is a victim.”

Theresa Hall, the mother of Morgan Rogers, said she lost her “best friend” when her daughter died on the trip and that she could “never forgive” Lloyd for what she had done.

Speaking outside Swansea Crown Court, Ms Hall said: “It’s been three long years and seven months since I lost my only daughter, Morgan, my best friend. Over three years since I laid eyes on her, over three years since I heard her infectious laugh.

“I wish you would all have met her, my beautiful daughter, she was always smiling, always happy, always content in her life.

“Anyone that has lost a child by someone else’s doing will know that there is no pain like it. That day I lost a piece of myself, I will never be the same person without my Morgan.”

Ms Hall said that Lloyd’s failure to get next of kin details meant it was more than 12 hours before she was informed of her daughter’s death.

“Even then, it was another 12 hours before I formally identified her myself,” she said.

“My precious girl was not important to Nerys Lloyd. She couldn’t give police Morgan’s details, as she hadn’t even bothered to get Morgan’s emergency contact details in case of an accident. That was despicable.”

Darren Wheatley, Ms Wheatley’s husband, said the loss of his wife has “devastated” the family.

In a statement read outside court, Mr Wheatley said: “Losing Nicola has devastated our family and two young children lost their mammy.

“Nicola died in circumstances that were completely avoidable and should not have happened. Decisions made by Nerys Lloyd, and only Nerys Lloyd, led to the four lives lost.

“Any sentence served by Nerys in prison will never ease the pain of losing Nicola, and our lives will never be the same again.”

Detective Superintendent Cameron Ritchie of Dyfed-Powys Police said no sentence could “ever replace the loss for the families or the trauma suffered by the survivors”.

“Nerys Lloyd’s catalogue of failures that led to the deaths of Andrea, Morgan, Nicola and Pauld should never have happened.

“Their lives were needlessly lost as a result of her negligence.”

Lisa Rose, specialist prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service special crime division, said: “Nerys Lloyd should not have taken participants on the water that day; the heavy flooding had left the river running very fast and it was beyond the remit of a beginner’s tour.

“The weir itself was in an extremely hazardous condition, with a high potential for loss of life, and all the possible exit points nearby had been flooded out.

“Lloyd was not qualified to take inexperienced paddleboarders out in such conditions, and her actions fell very far below the standard expected of a paddleboard instructor and activity planner.

“The tour could have started at a different point, to avoid the weir, or been cancelled altogether, but Lloyd made the final decision to go ahead with the event.

“There are no words that can articulate the devastation this tragedy has caused, and I can only hope that this sentence provides a sense of justice for those affected.”