A former paddleboarding company owner who led four people to their deaths on a Welsh river has been jailed for 10 years and six months.
Ex-police officer Nerys Bethan Lloyd was sentenced during a two-day hearing at Swansea Crown Court this past week, six weeks after she pleaded guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence over the tragedy in October 2021.
Nicola Wheatley, Morgan Rogers and Paul O’Dwyer — the latter of whom was an instructor who re-entered the water in an attempt to rescue the others — died at the scene on the Cleddau River in South Wales on 30 October 2021 their paddledboards were pulled over the top of a weir in fast-flowing flood conditions.
A fourth person, Andrea Powell, was recovered from the water but later died in hospital.
The court heard that neither Lloyd nor O’Dwyer were qualified to lead such a paddleboarding excursion, with Mrs Justice Stacey calling out an “abysmal” approach to health and safety.
BBC News has more on the story HERE.
