Ex-cop jailed for 10 years for causing deaths of four paddleboarders on swollen river
A former police officer who ignored warnings and led four people to their deaths has been jailed for ten years.
Ners Lloyd, 39, who owned the Salty Dog paddleboard company, took seven people out despite severe weather warnings, torrential rain and a swollen river.
All seven were swept over the face of a weir on the River Cleddau in Haverfordwest, trapping three of them: Morgan Rogers, 24, Nicola Wheatley, 40, and Andrea Powell, 41.
Lloyd’s Fellow instructor, Paul O’Dwyer, managed to get out but drowned when he went back in to try and help the three women.
Judge Mary Stacey said she had seen footage of the incident but said it was too distressing to play in court.
Out of the failings that led to the four deaths on October 30, 2021, she said: ‘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.’
Lloyd, who admitted manslaughter at an earlier hearing, said ‘I’m going to jail for this’ after finding out that co-instructor Paul had died. At one point,t she even tried to lay the blame on him.
She said that she believed he had given a briefing while she was using the toilet.
However, those who made it out of the water said no such briefing was given, and there was no mention of a weir and how to handle it.
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.
What is a weir?
A weir is a barrier built across a body of water, used similarly to a dam to control the flow of water levels upstream.
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.
Judge Stacey added: ‘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.’
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