Families' Anguish Over Appeal Bid by Paddleboard Company Owner
The families of two victims expressed further distress following a rejected attempt by a former paddleboard company owner to reduce her prison sentence after causing four deaths.
Paul O'Dwyer, Andrea Powell, Morgan Rogers, and Nicola Wheatley lost their lives after paddleboarding in "extremely hazardous conditions" on the Western Cleddau river in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in October 2021.
Nerys Bethan Lloyd, 41, from Port Talbot, admitted to gross negligence manslaughter in March 2025 and received a prison sentence of 10 years and six months.
The Court of Appeal, consisting of three judges, dismissed submissions by David Elias KC that the sentence was "manifestly excessive."
"There's just never an end to it,"said Teresa Hall, mother of Morgan Rogers, expressing her frustration.
"She [Lloyd] is not letting anyone have peace. Not the people that have died and not us, nobody can have peace.
We've got life sentences. Ours isn't just going to miraculously go away. I've lost my daughter for life."
Morgan, Teresa's only daughter, was a deputy manager at Aldi and had been preparing to join the fire brigade.
The 24-year-old was among seven participants on the paddleboard tour when the group encountered difficulties crossing a weir in "treacherous" conditions.
"My daughter's not coming back,"Teresa, from Merthyr Tydfil, added.
"No matter how much I cry, no matter how much I'm angry, she's never going to walk through that door again.
I just hope that she [Lloyd] will just give us a break and let us now have peace. That's all I want, just peace."
Both Teresa and Darren Wheatley, husband of Nicola, observed the appeal hearing remotely from their homes.
Darren described the experience as agonising.
"I broke down sobbing and crying when they said the appeal was rejected,"he said.
"It was a sense of relief, anxiety, nerves and it was like a weight being lifted again like what it was 12 months ago when she got sentenced."
Nicola, a poisons information specialist, had received her paddleboard as a 40th birthday gift weeks before and was enthusiastic about the trip organised by Lloyd's company, Salty Dog Co Ltd.
At the time of her death, Nicola's children were aged seven and two, and Darren spoke about the ongoing pain of her absence in their lives.
"It was devastating, it blew our family apart,"Darren said.
"She's so brazen,"he added from Pontarddulais, Swansea.
"I wish she'd never crossed paths with Nicola. But it's a name I'll never forget the rest of my life."
Investigation and Findings
More than a year after the incident, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) published a report concluding the four deaths were "tragic and avoidable," highlighting multiple errors on the day of the tragedy.
Lloyd eventually pleaded guilty to gross negligence manslaughter, with the judge condemning her "abysmal" approach to health and safety.
The MAIB report, released in December 2022, detailed the events of that day.
On 30 October 2021, just before 08:00, the group of nine arrived by van in Haverfordwest.
Before parking, Lloyd and Paul O'Dwyer, her co-instructor, stopped in the town centre to inspect the river.
By approximately 08:49, the group was on the water, setting off downriver towards Burton Ferry, with Lloyd leading and Paul at the rear.
They passed through Haverfordwest town centre five minutes later, with one participant playing music through a portable speaker.
Minutes later, they approached the weir.
Lloyd instructed those nearby to follow her and stay in the river's centre.
At 08:56, kneeling on her stand-up paddleboard (SUP), Lloyd was the first to descend the fish pass in the weir's centre and was quickly swept downstream.
Andrea was third to descend, Nicola sixth, and Morgan eighth.
While most of the group cleared the weir and were swept downstream, Andrea, Nicola, and Morgan became trapped in the hydraulic jump, a recirculating flow resembling a washing machine at the weir's base.
Paul, monitoring from the rear, noticed the trouble, paddled to the river's right side, and exited the water.
Upon seeing some in distress, he removed his leash connecting his SUP to his leg, grabbed his board, and jumped into the river above the weir, being carried over its right side.
At 09:02, a passerby noticed the paddleboarders struggling and called emergency services.
The passerby retrieved a lifebuoy and repeatedly threw a line into the water, but none of the victims could grasp it.
Emergency responders arrived eight minutes later.
A coordinated multi-agency response ensued, involving coastguard rescue teams and helicopter, police, fire and ambulance services, air ambulance, and RNLI.
Andrea was rescued near the weir by members of the public and resuscitated at the scene but died six days later due to drowning injuries.
Nicola and Morgan's bodies were recovered from the river by fellow paddleboarders; both were pronounced dead at the scene.
Paul's body was found further downstream by the coastguard helicopter around 11:00.
What Went Wrong?
In December 2022, the MAIB report aimed at preventing future incidents identified critical failures and errors contributing to the tragedy.
Lloyd was dismissed by South Wales Police in November 2021 for reasons unrelated to the paddleboarding incident.
