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

Posted by. Posted onApril 23, 2025 Comments0
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A former police officer who ignored warnings and led four people to their deaths has been jailed for ten years.

Nerys 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.

EDITORS NOTE IMAGE ANNOTATED AT SOURCE BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE Undated handout photo issued by the Crown Prosecution Service showing a side view of Haverfordwest Town Weir during low flow conditions, with vertical crest and sloping upper glacis. Former police officer Nerys Bethan Lloyd, 39, has been jailed at Swansea Crown Court for 10 years and six months for the manslaughter of Morgan Rogers, Nicola Wheatley, Paul O'Dwyer and Andrea Powell, who died while paddleboarding on the River Cleddau in Haverfordwest, south-west Wales, in 2021. Issue date: Wednesday April 23, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story COURTS Haverfordwest. Photo credit should read: Dyfed Powys Police/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
The paddleboarders all went over the Haverfordwest Town Weir (Picture: PA)
Undated family handout file photos of (left to right) Morgan Rogers, Nicola Wheatley, Paul O'Dwyer and Andrea Powell. Former police officer Nerys Bethan Lloyd, 39, has been jailed at Swansea Crown Court for 10 years and six months for the manslaughter of four people who died while paddleboarding on the River Cleddau in Haverfordwest, south-west Wales, in 2021. Issue date: Wednesday April 23, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story COURTS Haverfordwest. Photo credit should read: Family Handout/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Paul O’Dwyer, 40, and Andrea Powell, 41, passed away(Pictures: PA)
Undated family handout file photos of (left to right) Morgan Rogers, Nicola Wheatley, Paul O'Dwyer and Andrea Powell. Former police officer Nerys Bethan Lloyd, 39, has been jailed at Swansea Crown Court for 10 years and six months for the manslaughter of four people who died while paddleboarding on the River Cleddau in Haverfordwest, south-west Wales, in 2021. Issue date: Wednesday April 23, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story COURTS Haverfordwest. Photo credit should read: Family Handout/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Morgan Rogers, 24, and Nicola Wheatley, 40, both died (Picture: 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.’

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.

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Former police officer Nerys Lloyd, 39, will be jailed for 10 years and six months
Nerys Lloyd (centre) has been sentenced to 10 years in prison (Picture: South Wales Police)
BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE Handout photo dated 31/10/21 issued by the Crown Prosecution Service of conditions at the weir the day after the tragedy which killed Morgan Rogers, Nicola Wheatley, Paul O'Dwyer and Andrea Powell. Former police officer Nerys Bethan Lloyd, 39, has been jailed at Swansea Crown Court for 10 years and six months for the manslaughter of four people who died while paddleboarding on the River Cleddau in Haverfordwest, south-west Wales, in 2021. Issue date: Wednesday April 23, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story COURTS Haverfordwest. Photo credit should read: Dyfed Powys Police/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Even a day after the tragedy, conditions at the weir were still dangerous (Picture: PA)

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.’

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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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