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

Nerys Lloyd (centre) is facing a prison sentence (Picture: South Wales Police)

A woman who pleaded guilty to manslaughter after four people were killed while paddleboarding in Wales has been sentenced to ten years and six months in prison.

Nerys Lloyd, former owner of the Salty Dog paddleboard tour company, took seven attendees and one other instructor down the swollen River Cleddau in Haverfordwest on October 30, 2021.

Lloyd, of Aberavon, South Wales, was suspended from her firearms duties at South Wales police at the time of the tragedy after accepting a caution for a fraudulent insurance claim involving a vehicle.

The tour went ahead despite ‘heavy flooding and severe weather warnings’ being in place in the area, and the river was ‘running fast’ and in an ‘extremely hazardous condition’.

Nicola Wheatley, 40, Morgan Rogers, 24, Paul O’Dwyer, 42, and Andrea Powell, 41, all died during the incident, and four other paddleboarders survived.

Mrs Justice Stacey told the court today the victims were ‘cut off in their prime’.

She added: ‘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.

(Left to right) Morgan Rogers, Nicola Wheatley, Paul O’Dwyer and Andrea Powell passed away (Pictures: PA)

‘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.

‘We have heard such moving accounts from the family members of those who died. Statements which I fear barely scratch the surface of their devastation at the loss of their loved ones, cut off in their prime, with so much to live for and look forward to.’

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.

Lloyd said, ‘I’m going to jail for this’, just moments after finding out her co-instructor, Mr O’Dwyer, had died – and even attempted to lay blame on him.

All four victims died due to drowning, with three becoming trapped after being pulled over the top of the Haverfordwest Town Weir.

Mr O’Dwyer was the other instructor and had got out of the water safely before returning to try and rescue the others.

Lloyd was seen on the bank near the river after the incident (Picture: Wales News Service)

Photographs from the scene showed the large weir with a fish ramp in the middle, ‘only slightly wider than the width of a paddleboard,’ and a concrete landing platform to the side.

Swansea Crown Court heard Lloyd was able to navigate herself down the fish ramp on her board before ‘one by one’ each of the seven others was swept over the face of the weir and fell off their paddleboards.

Defending David Elias KC said Lloyd planned to take the group to the landing platform at the side to ‘get out and walk around’ the weir, but the water had covered the area.

Mr Elias said: ‘Nerys Lloyd went down the fish ramp as a last resort once she realised she had no time to do anything else.’

Lloyd later told police she believed Mr O’Dwyer had given a health and safety briefing while she was using the toilets at Morrisons before going out on the water.

Mr Watson said: ‘However, all of the surviving participants are clear in their evidence that no health and safety briefing whatsoever took place before they entered the water, and there was no mention by anyone of a weir, or a fish pass, or of any need to exit the water to go around any weir.’

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