Woman jailed over deaths of four paddleboarders – as her actions branded ‘despicable’

23/04/2025

A woman has been jailed for 10 years and six months over the deaths of four paddleboarders in Wales.

Nerys Bethan Lloyd – a former police officer – pleaded guilty last month to four counts of gross negligence manslaughter and one offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Paul O’Dwyer, 42, Andrea Powell, 41, Morgan Rogers, 24, and Nicola Wheatley, 40, died after they got into difficulty in the River Cleddau, Pembrokeshire, on 30 October 2021.

The four had been part of a stand-up paddleboarding tour when their paddleboards went over a weir in Haverfordwest, during “extremely hazardous conditions”.

The tour had been organised by Lloyd, owner and sole director of Salty Dog Co Ltd.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement that an expert had concluded the tour “should not have taken place”.

Sentencing Lloyd at Swansea Crown Court on Wednesday, Mrs Justice Stacey told her: “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.

Paddleboarding on the weir posed an “obvious and extreme danger which was well known and clearly signed”, the judge said.

“Even from the bridge you could hear how tumultuous the water was going over the weir but you carried on regardless.”

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

The judge said of the victims: “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 loves ones, cut off in their prime, with so much to live for and look forward to.”

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Written by: Pippa Taylor

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