Family photoA court has heard there was an “obvious potential for real danger” during the sentencing of a paddleboard tour company owner after the deaths of four people.
Paul O’Dwyer, 42, Andrea Powell, 41, Morgan Rogers, 24, and Nicola Wheatley, 40, drowned while paddleboarding in “extremely hazardous conditions” on the River Cleddau, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in October 2021.
Nerys Bethan Lloyd, 39, from Port Talbot, is the former owner of Salty Dog, the now-dissolved company who operated the tour.
Ms Lloyd admitted to manslaughter last month. It was revealed she did not have the correct qualifications to run the tour.
In court on Tuesday Mr Mark Watson, prosecuting, explained there was an “obvious potential for real danger”.
He told the court that several members of the group had very limited experience.
Adding that both Nerys Bethan Lloyd and her business partner Paul O’Dwyer were “not remotely qualified”, as they only had a “basic entry level qualification” which was not suitable for the tour they led.
He explained that the pair “briefly stopped in the town centre to inspect the river” that day but “did not inspect the weir itself”, adding they knew there was a weir on that stretch of river having paddleboarded there in August.
The group of seven participants and co-instructor Paul O’Dwyer set off after 09:00 on the 30 October 2021.
The court heard there had been heavy rain in the days before and “the river was in flood conditions” with a “visibly strong current”.
“Of the eight individuals who went over the weir that day only four survived,” he said.
Mr Watson explained there were desperate attempts of “bystanders who tried to throw lifelines into the weir”.
The court heard that the intensity of the water that day “was the equivalent of two tons of water crossing the 1m of the weir crest every second”.
The weather conditions meant that the difference between water levels above and below the weir on that day would have been “a drop of 1.3m”.
Mark Powell, the husband of Andrea Powell, gave the first victim impact statement.
Addressing the court he said the pair had moved to Wales as a better place to raise their son.
Breaking down in tears he explained the last time he saw Andrea as “happy and content” was the day before the incident when they said goodbye as she left for the trip to Haverfordwest.
He then saw Andrea in Withybush hospital where she was in coma. He said he “burst into tears” seeing the cuts and bruises to her face and body. She had been resuscitated twice.
“I sat with her crying and playing her favourite songs,” he said.
Mr Powell said their son, Finn and Andrea “had the most amazing bond”.
When he told Finn, who was 7 at the time of her death, that the doctors couldn’t save her and she had died, he burst out in “uncontrollable tears”.
He said that the noise of his son that day will stay with him forever.
He explained it has impacted him as well suffering “emotional breakdowns” and saying it was “heart-breaking” to hear his child say “he wants to die so he can be with his mother again”.
Mr Powell said that Andrea was an “extraordinary human being” having saved the lives of five people after her death as an organ donor.
He said the fact she did not die peacefully still causes troubles and causes him distress.
“How can a serving police officer allow this to happen?”
He said Nerys was “not fit to hold my wife’s life in her hands”, adding he “cannot forgive her lack of remorse”.
Mr Powell said: “Whatever the outcome, Nerys will continue to live and breathe and ‘feel the sun on her face’.”
Addressing her directly in the dock, he said even if Nerys ends up in a prison with people who do not look favourably on ex-police officers “it will be nothing in comparison to what she has put them through and continue to put them through”.
John Taylor, father of Andrea Powell was the second family member to address the court. He said, “Andrea was the life and soul of every party”.
He said that after a week in hospital “all hope was gone”.
“We miss Andrea every day” and “pray that in death I will meet her again”.
He said that her loss has put a strain on them and the pain will never go away.
“Our past, our present and our future will never ever be the same again,” he said.
Theresa Hall, mother of Morgan Rogers, told the court that Morgan’s loss follows her like a shadow.
She said that Ms Lloyd “guided Morgan to her death” and the “physical and mental pain that I now live with is too much to bear”.
Speaking to Nerys, she said, “in your arrogance have stopped me being able to fully grieve for my daughter”.
“We were always a tight unit” and that “Morgan was the one who would galvanise us” for day trips.
“Every day of my life is absolutely horrendous” knowing she died a “horrific death.”
Breaking down in tears, she told Nerys that she would never forgive her “for what you have taken away from me”.
Robert Rogers, father of Morgan Rogers, said that she was “warm, courageous, happy shiny star to all she knew was extinguished.”
“As a father to have to bury your own daughter is not a path you want any other human being to walk,” he said.
“The open wound inflicted will never ever heal.
“My family will have a life sentence of grief for our remaining days,” he said.
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