WELSH Water’s chief executive has defended his high earnings amid mounting criticism over soaring customer bills and the company’s record on sewage pollution.

Peter Perry, head of Dŵr Cymru, told MPs on the UK Parliament’s Environment Committee that his salary was “reflective of performance.” However, in Wales, the company has faced repeated scrutiny for its handling of sewage spills, service disruptions, and rising household water costs.

Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and the Environment, Janet Finch-Saunders MS, questioned Dŵr Cymru’s performance, highlighting a series of recent failures.

In January, as many as 40,000 homes in North Wales were left without water after a burst pipe at the Bryn Cowlyd Water Treatment Works in Dolgarrog, Conwy. The company has also issued boil water notices in Rhondda Cynon Taf, and Welsh beaches have experienced some of the highest levels of sewage discharge in the UK.

In 2023, Dŵr Cymru was responsible for over 916,000 hours of sewage discharges into rivers, lakes, and coastal waters—around 20% of all recorded sewage spills across England and Wales.

Finch-Saunders said: “We’ve seen constant headlines about sewage dumping, service disruptions, and rising customer bills, making it unbelievable that the head of Dŵr Cymru can justify his inflated salary as performance-based.

“With Wales facing four times as many sewage discharges proportionally as England, and Dŵr Cymru customers now paying the highest water bills in the country, such an exorbitant salary is a slap in the face to customers.

“The public shouldn’t be forced to cover the costs of inflated executive pay, especially when water companies have failed to address long-standing issues and delayed critical infrastructure upgrades until it’s too late.”

CEO’s earnings under scrutiny

Despite being a not-for-profit organisation, Dŵr Cymru has continued to pay its chief executive a substantial salary.

• Peter Perry’s total remuneration in 2021 was £892,000.
• In 2022, he earned £675,000, rising to £792,000 in 2023.
• In 2024, his salary was £355,000, with £91,000 in variable pay, £34,000 in pension-linked payments, and a further £9,000, bringing his total earnings to £489,000.

Meanwhile, Dŵr Cymru customers are set to face the highest water bills in England and Wales.

A MAN who orchestrated a campaign of rape spanning more than 20 years, abusing two young girls over 110 times, has been jailed. Ronald Richards, 66, was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court on Tuesday (Mar 11) after his crimes were revealed when one of his victims broke down in tears years later.

The court heard harrowing details of the abuse, with prosecutor Ian Wright describing how Richards, raped his first victim at least 60 times when she was under 13 and continued the abuse when she was under 16. His second victim was raped on at least 50 occasions before she reached 13. Both victims stood in court to describe the lasting impact of their ordeals.

One victim told the court: “I can’t remember a time when I didn’t feel anxious or have a feeling of dread in my stomach. I moved away from my home town in an attempt to feel safe. I had to pretend everything was OK, but I have never really been able to be myself.”

She recalled suffering from flashbacks and suicidal thoughts, adding: “He stole my childhood and my innocence.”

The second victim said: “I don’t actually know how to feel. I have blocked out so much. I felt like I had to do whatever he said. The most painful thing for me is looking at old photos of myself from before this happened.”

Defence barrister Ieuan Rees told the court that Richards is in poor health, suffering from diabetes and deteriorating eyesight, and acknowledged that his sentence would likely see him remain in prison for the rest of his life.

Richards was convicted of 14 offences, including multiple counts of rape of a child under 13, rape of a child under 16, sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child, and indecent assault.

Sentencing Richards to 25 years in prison—24 years of a determinate sentence plus a one-year extended term—Judge Geraint Walters told him: “You systematically abused two young children in an unspeakable way. The scars of such abuse are lifelong.”

Richards, from Port Talbot must serve two-thirds of his sentence before being considered for parole. He has also been placed on the sex offenders’ register for life and is subject to a lifelong sexual harm prevention order and restraining orders preventing him from contacting his victims.

Following the sentencing, Detective Constable Joanne Williams of South Wales Police praised the victims’ bravery, telling The Pembrokeshire Herald: “To have been subjected to this level of abuse from such a young age is sickening.

“The victims will have to carry these memories for the rest of their lives. Ronald Richards is a very dangerous man who preyed upon defenceless children.

“The level and frequency of his offending was staggering. It is right that he should go to prison for a significant amount of time.”

A FISHING boat supposedly heading out for a shark-fishing trip was, in reality, smuggling more than a ton of high-purity cocaine worth £100 million into the UK. The Lily Lola, intercepted by Border Force officers off the coast of Cornwall, had been used to retrieve drug parcels from the sea in a sophisticated smuggling operation.

Two men from west Wales, Jon Williams and Patrick Godfrey, were arrested after the vessel was boarded last September. Williams, who had purchased the boat just two months earlier for £140,000, was at the helm, while Godfrey was found sleeping on deck. The boat had sailed from Newquay to a designated drop-off point near the Isles of Scilly, where packages were floating in the water, believed to have been left by a South American cartel.

Law enforcement agencies had been tracking the Lily Lola for some time. Covert surveillance included listening devices and GPS trackers, allowing officers to monitor the crew’s movements and conversations. When the boat was seized and taken to Plymouth Royal Dockyard, officers discovered 49 bales of cocaine, though messages retrieved from the vessel’s Garmin device suggested they had failed to collect 19 additional parcels.

Investigators also found damning evidence on Godfrey’s phone, including a message instructing someone to “delete everything u see and not show anybody” and an internet search for “how long does it take a ship to leave Peru to UK.”

Both Williams, aged 46, of Windmill Terrace, Swansea, and Godfrey, 31, of Danygraig Road, Swansea, denied conspiring to smuggle cocaine but were convicted at Truro Crown Court following a trial. Two other men onboard, Michael John Paul Kelly, 45, from Manchester, and Jake Marchant, 27, of no fixed address, had already pleaded guilty to the offence. All four are due to be sentenced on May 8.

Following the convictions, NCA branch commander Derek Evans said: “This seizure has prevented a massive quantity of cocaine from flooding the streets of the UK and Europe. Organised criminals would have made vast profits from this smuggling operation, but thanks to the work of the NCA and Border Force, we have dismantled a key supply chain.”

The case highlights the lengths criminal gangs will go to in order to smuggle drugs into the country, with law enforcement agencies remaining vigilant against increasingly sophisticated trafficking methods.