Nerys Bethan Lloyd, aged 39 - a former firearms officer with South Wales Police - has been jailed for ten years and six months after admitting to a charge of gross negligence manslaughter which resulted in the deaths of four people. Lloyd (pictured left, looking suitably sombre as she arrives at court for sentencing), who is originally from Port Talbot, ran a paddleboarding company called Salty Dog Co. Ltd.. In October of 2021, she organised a paddleboarding tour on the River Cleddau in Haverfordwest, despite "extremely hazardous conditions" and knowing that the participants would have to negotiate a weir with a 1.3-metre drop, even though alternative routes were available. The inexperienced participants were not warned about the presence of the weir, or how to negotiate it, leading to several of the group of eight becoming trapped underwater as they were swept over it by the fast-moving river, with four ultimately dying by drowning. Lloyd was not qualified to lead inexperienced paddleboarders, failed to give them a safety briefing before starting their journey, had not equipped her clients with the right kind of leashes for their boards, and failed to obtain consent forms or next-of-kin details from the participants - resulting in long delays in contacting relatives after the accident. On her sentencing at Swansea Crown Court on April 23rd, 2025, Nerys Lloyd was told she would serve two-thirds of her ten-and-a-half-year sentence behind bars and the rest on licence in the community.
