A FEMALE who was threatening to enter the water at the Mill Pond in Pembroke was detained by the police for her own safety on Saturday night.
Dyfed-Powys Police, Coast Guard officers and the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service rib, Rescue One, attended the incident. An ambulance was also sent to the scene.
When emergency services arrived they found the woman in a distressed state on the water’s edge.
A witness at the scene gave an unconfirmed account that the incident had been proceeded by an argument, a claim that The Herald cannot verify.
The witness added: “I think that this large emergency services response is in part due to the tragic deaths which have occurred recently at the Mill Pond. Nobody wanted to take any chances.”
The police told The Herald in a statement: “Police responded to a report of a female in need of assistance after entering Mill Pond at approximately 11.10pm on January 2.”
The spokesman added: “They attended the area and found a distressed female on the water’s edge. She was detained for her own safety.
After a thorough search of the pond was conducted by police and fire using a heat source detector and speaking to the original caller again, it was established that the correct female had been detained and that no one else had entered the water.”
In November, coroner Mark Layton raised concerns with Pembrokeshire County Council over safety at the Mill Pond.
The move came after an inquest into the death of Robert Mansfield, who drowned at the Mill Pond while celebrating his eighteenth birthday.
The inquest heard that Mr Mansfield had “a bit of an infatuation with Pembroke Mill Pond” as well as “a history of messing about in water when drunk”.
A Pembrokeshire County Council risk assessment, provided at the request of the coroner, said that there was a low risk of slips, trips and falls into the water at the Mill Pond. However signs were to be erected advising people not to swim and a life ring to be installed by the barrage.
The council’s assessment had been disputed by Robert Mansfield’s family who have been campaigning for better safety measures at the Mill Pond.
An inquest into the drowning of a 52-year-old man in Pembroke’s Mill Pond on New Year’s Day 2015 ruled his death was accidental.
At a hearing in October, deputy coroner Gareth Lewis concluded that the death of Wayne Anthony Young, of Olivers View, Pembroke on was a ‘tragic accident’.
An eye witness statement said Mr Young was seen tumbling down a bank into the Mill Pond. A concerned member of the public retrieved a life ring from The Royal George pub and threw it towards Mr Young but there was no response, the inquest heard.
The witness then entered the pond to bring Mr Young out of the water. He died on the day of his birthday.
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