Paddleboarding tragedy (why did she do this?)

[PassingStranger]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/former-cops-grovelling-voice-note-35105323

Did anyone else see this on the news?
4 people died
Horrific, imagine their panic.

What was behind this desire to take them out, when she shouldn't have.
I'll presume it was money sadly.😢

I'm glad she got prison.

Didn’t take next of kin details so one family weren’t told their loved one had died for 12 hours

Should’ve been longer.

I think people often massively underestimate how difficult it is to coach people to safety when they are frightened and panicking. They look at something risky and think ‘I can handle that’, completely ignoring the fact that other people’s behaviour is not predictable. Can you handle it whilst also holding on to someone else who is thrashing and screaming?

That said, even the tiniest bit of appropriate training would have taught her this.

Gross neglect manslaughter should have resulted in a 18 years sentence.
I hope the families appeal

I absolutely don't have sympathy for her however....

One person decided not to wear their buoyancy aid (yes she should have demanded they did but they were all adults).

Paddleboards are provided with ankle leashes which aren't safe. They should be used with quick release waist straps. These should be provided as norm when you buy a paddleboard. You don't buy a car, then seatbelts (anymore).

I don't think the above would have made a difference to the death toll but they may have helped.

As others have said, I think it was pure arrogance and recklessness. I was shocked when I heard the sentence but then realised that she'll probably serve less than half of that. I think she got off lightly for causing the death of four people which were completely preventable if she'd acted responsibly.

When this story first came out DH was horrified. He coaches kayaking and the stuff you have to do to be qualified is hefty. He straight away said the weather was terrible, going over a weir was insane and he bet they weren't all wearing buoyancy aids because there were too many numpties who paddle boarded who thought they were too cool for them.

He's seen idiots doing all sorts before and thought paddle boarding was badly regulated.

As it turns out pretty much everything he said has proved to be spot on. It was so predictable and so preventable.

She deserves 10 years.

She wasn't intending to kill them, so it wasn't murder.

She will be out in 4 years, that's the travesty here

She was responsible for the deaths of 4 people. I think it's a very lenient sentence, particularly as she is unlikely to serve the full time.

You can read the sentencing guidelines for gross negligence manslaughter:
https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/crown-court/item/gross-negligence-manslaughter/

The sentence was what I expected based on the guidelines.

But she was negligent on a number of levels, so manslaughter.

Cluelessness and recklessness? Difficult to comprehend how the trip went ahead.

No but it was manslaughter

Sending people over a dangerous weir without the correct equipment?

Sounds pretty murdery to me.

it's insane - most of them weren't wearing wetsuits and one wasn't wearing any sort of safety device.

I do quite a bit of paddleboarding - any classes/group outings I've been on you HAVE to wear a safety vest even if you're a great swimmer and it's on, say, a fairly shallow pond in calm conditions, which is probably the safest place you can do it. They will not let you on the water without it. I don't like wearing them - I'm big boobed so with a thick vest as well it makes it much harder to get back on the board if you fall off - but in flowing water they should be non-negotiable.

you are also strongly encouraged to wear wetsuits - the times I don't are, for example, in the ocean abroad in august - not late October in Pembrokeshire! They would have been freezing if they fell in even in a less dangerous area.

even if you go to a managed location (e.g. a lake/reservoir specifically set up for watersports) you're supposed to have personal insurance if you use your own gear, and you're not even supposed to go on lots of rivers/canals without a watersports license (not entirely sure about whether the route they took was one of these).

It was just a ridiculous location for anyone to go paddleboarding in that weather, let alone people with minimal experience. Even if she didn't cancel it completely (which a lot of people would have) I honestly don't understand why she didn't agree with the other leader to do it in a safer location - she wouldn't have lost any money by doing so.

The other instructor, the one that actually raised concerns and suggested a different route, went in to help.

Any sympathy she deserved for it being a mistake or lapse of judgement is completely removed by the fact that she left those people to drown due to her own stupidity rather than doing everything in her power to help. She absolutely deserves 10 years, those poor families.

4 people died!

Sadly we see this all the time in the Summer where we live. There are navigation rules published, with guidance to keep everyone safe, but people just don't read them. As a cox in a rowing club, I've been involved in two incidents with paddleboarders whose "guides" had put them in danger by not considering the local navigation rules, the conditions on the day and the inexperience of their clients. It scares me, honestly, so I just operate on the assumption that any boarder I see outside of Winter could be a complete novice who might do something random and dangerous at any moment. Better safe than sorry.

Simple - arrogance, stupidity and a total indifference for others' safety.

Thank goodness she isn't a police officer any more, and never will be again.

Given the protocols for doing similar in kayaking she may as well have been planning to murder them.

She should have got much longer, any reasonable person could see it wasn't safe. She led them to their deaths. 20 years wouldn't be long enough.

She was also crew for the RNLI. Her attitude and behaviour was shocking on many levels.

The video clip after it happened was odd, she did not seem at all distressed over what happened.

Narcissistic tendencies creeping through.
10 years is not long enough.

What are the protocols in kayaking?

What an awful tragedy, the woman sounds sociopathic to me.