A woman has been jailed for 10 years and six months over the deaths of four paddleboarders in Wales.

Nerys Bethan Lloyd – a former police officer – pleaded guilty last month to four counts of gross negligence manslaughter and one offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Paul O’Dwyer, 42, Andrea Powell, 41, Morgan Rogers, 24, and Nicola Wheatley, 40, died after they got into difficulty in the River Cleddau, Pembrokeshire, on 30 October 2021.

The four had been part of a stand-up paddleboarding tour when their paddleboards went over a weir in Haverfordwest, during “extremely hazardous conditions”.

The tour had been organised by Lloyd, owner and sole director of Salty Dog Co Ltd.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement that an expert had concluded the tour “should not have taken place”.

Sentencing Lloyd at Swansea Crown Court on Wednesday, Mrs Justice Stacey told her: “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.

“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.”

The judge said there were Met Office weather warnings at that time, as well as a flood alert in place through Natural Resources Wales.

Paddleboarding on the weir posed an “obvious and extreme danger which was well known and clearly signed”, the judge said.

“Even from the bridge you could hear how tumultuous the water was going over the weir but you carried on regardless.”

She said she had watched CCTV footage of the incident, which she described as “too distressing” to play in court.

The judge said of the victims: “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 loves ones, cut off in their prime, with so much to live for and look forward to.”

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Robert Jenrick has vowed to “bring this coalition together” to ensure that Conservatives and Reform UK are no longer fighting each other for votes by the time of the next election, according to a leaked recording obtained by Sky News.

The shadow justice secretary told an event with students last month he would try “one way or another” to make sure Reform UK and the Tories do not compete at another general election and hand a second term in office to Keir Starmer in the process.

In the exclusive audio, Mr Jenrick can be heard telling the students he is still working hard to put Reform UK out of business – the position of the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

However, more controversially, the comments also suggest he can envisage a time when that position may no longer be viable and has to change. He denies any suggestion this means he is advocating a Tory-Reform UK pact.

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The shadow justice secretary came second to Mrs Badenoch in the last leadership contest and is the bookies’ favourite to replace her as the next Conservative leader.

Speaking to the UCL Conservative association dinner in late March, he can be heard saying: “[Reform UK] continues to do well in the polls. And my worry is that they become a kind of permanent or semi-permanent fixture on the British political scene. And if that is the case, and I say, I am trying to do everything I can to stop that being the case, then life becomes a lot harder for us, because the right is not united.

“And then you head towards the general election, where the nightmare scenario is that Keir Starmer sails in through the middle as a result of the two parties being disunited. I don’t know about you, but I’m not prepared for that to happen.

“I want the fight to be united. And so, one way or another, I’m determined to do that and to bring this coalition together and make sure we unite as a nation as well.”

This is the furthest a member of the shadow cabinet has gone in suggesting that they think the approach to Reform UK may evolve before the next general election.

Last night, Mr Jenrick denied this meant he was advocating a pact with Reform UK.

Read more:
Badenoch dismisses ‘threat’ from Jenrick
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A source close to Mr Jenrick said: “Rob’s comments are about voters and not parties. He’s clear we have to put Reform out of business and make the Conservatives the natural home for all those on the right, rebuilding the coalition of voters we had in 2019 and can have again. But he’s under no illusions how difficult that is – we have to prove over time we’ve changed and can be trusted again.”

Mrs Badenoch has said in interviews that she cannot see any circumstances that the Tories under her leadership would do a deal with Reform UK.

In next week’s local elections, Reform UK will compete directly against the Tories in a series of contests from Kent to Lincolnshire. At last year’s general election, in more than 170 of the 251 constituencies lost by the Conservatives the Reform vote was greater than the margin of the Tories’ defeat.

Today’s YouGov/Sky voting intention figures put Reform UK in front on 25%, Labour on 23% and the Conservatives on 20%, with the Lib Dems on 16% and Greens on 10%.

Talks to try to end the Birmingham bin strike that has seen piles of black rubbish bags fill the pavements of the city will resume today.

Mounds of waste remain uncollected, while residents have started to take matters into their own hands.

Birmingham City Council declared a major incident on 31 March, saying the “regrettable” move was taken in response to public health concerns, as picket lines were blocking depots and preventing waste vehicles from collecting rubbish.

The all-out strike started on 11 March, but waste collections have been disrupted since January.

Here is everything you need to know.

How long have workers been striking?

More than 350 workers of the Unite union began a series of walkouts in January and decided to escalate into indefinite strike action on 11 March, citing fear over further attacks on their jobs, pay and conditions.

The union has said that the removal of the role of waste recycling and collection officer (WRCO) role will leave about 150 workers £8,000 worse off – as the number of workers working on bin lorries will be reduced from four to three.

The council said it scrapped the WRCO role to put the city’s waste operations in line with national practice and to improve its waste collection service.

It said all workers have been offered alternative employment at the same pay, driver training or voluntary redundancy and that offer remains open.

Three military planners are understood to have been assigned to the city to provide logistical support to Birmingham’s council for a short period of time.

What are the impacts?

Normally, the city’s waste teams would make more than half a million collections in a week with 200 vehicles deployed over eight-hour daily shifts.

This has been reduced to just over 26,000 since the start of April, according to the latest council figures.

The cost of the ongoing clean-up could cause even more damage to the council, which effectively declared bankruptcy in 2023. One waste management agency told Sky News that totally clearing the backlog could cost more than £200m.

The strike has become one of the longest the UK has seen in recent years.

Back in 1978-79, the winter of discontent led to rubbish piling up on the streets of London, as the waste collection industry joined other trade unions in demanding larger pay rises in response to government caps.

More recently, more than 200 bin workers in the Wirral went on a week-long strike in 2022, eventually securing a 15% pay rise. In the same year, a similar dispute over pay saw rubbish pile up in Edinburgh during the city’s busy festival season.

Why is it taking so long to settle the dispute?

Unite, the union representing striking workers, and the city council have failed to reach an agreement since the strike began in March, with Unite holding firm on the strike action despite pressure from the government.

Members rejected the council’s latest offer on 14 April by 97% on 60% turnout, saying it was “totally inadequate” and did not address potential pay cuts for 200 drivers.

The union’s general secretary Sharon Graham said the rejection was “no surprise” as “workers simply cannot afford to take pay cuts of this magnitude to pay the price for bad decision after bad decision”.

Meanwhile, the government and council said it was a “significantly improved” offer.

Responding to an urgent question in the House of Commons on 22 April, communities minister Jim McMahon said “significant progress” had been made in dealing with the remaining tonnes of rubbish.

He said through “a concerted effort” and with the assistance of other councils, private operators and workers, 26,000 tonnes of excess waste had been removed, and the levels were “approaching normal”.

Council leader John Cotton told Sky News’ Midlands correspondent Lisa Dowd on 16 April that it “pains” him to see pictures of mounds of rubbish and rats feeding off the mess being broadcast around the world.

He said the only way for the normal waste collection schedule to resume was for the strike to end – but added the cash-strapped council has “red lines” that it will not cross during negotiations.

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner visited the city on 10 April and urged the union to end the “misery and disruption” by accepting a pay deal.

How have residents been affected?

Mounting rubbish has led to residents complaining of a risk to public health, with rotting food attracting foxes, cockroaches and rats.

Rashid Campbell, a local resident who is part of a volunteer litter-picking team from the Birmingham Central Mosque, told Sky’s Shamaan Freeman-Powell that 12 members of his team collected 24 bags of rubbish from two Birmingham streets on Easter Sunday.

“If we don’t [litter-pick], we’re just going to be drowning in rubbish,” he said.

Latifat Abdul Majed Isah said even in some places where bins have been taken away, the street remained “dirty, unpalatable and unpleasant to see”.

Joseph McHale, a rat-catcher from Vergo Pest Management, told Sky News at the beginning of April that discarded bin bags provide vermin with “somewhere to hide, somewhere to feed, somewhere to stay warm”.

He said his business had seen a 60% increase in people from Birmingham calling them for help.

By declaring a major incident, the council was able to free up an additional 35 vehicles and crews to clear rubbish and fly-tipping from the streets.

The limited number of waste trucks are deployed each morning from three depots across the city and cover multiple different routes.

Residents are also able to dispose of household general waste and bulky items at the council’s mobile household waste centres, without prebooking.

To recycle household items, locals are required to book a slot at one of the council’s household recycling centres.

Could it spread to other areas?

The union’s general secretary has warned the strikes could “absolutely” spread to other areas.

“If other councils decide to make low-paid workers pay for bad decisions that they did not make, workers paying the price yet again, then absolutely, of course, we all have to take action in those other areas,” Sharon Graham told LBC.

The union’s national lead officer Onay Kasab agreed, telling BBC Four: “Well, if other local authorities look to cut the pay of essential public service workers, then there is the potential for strike action spreading.

“That’s why different political choices need to be made.”

Ms Graham also criticised the government, saying it had taken them “a huge amount of time to get involved in the dispute”.