‘The police really let us down’ – residents reflect on Mayhill riot
South Wales Police has apologised over their handling of a riot that broke out in the Swansea neighbourhood of Mayhill in May last year after a panel found there were ‘significant failings’. Robert Dalling asked residents for their verdict on the findings
FIRE scars on the pavement, concrete barriers blocking the road and signs warning that “crime and anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated”...
The reminders of a night which shocked the city of Swansea are still visible to see when taking a stroll down Waun Wen Road.
But it is the traumatic memories of a night of fear and distress that will live on the longest for the residents who found themselves stuck in the middle of a major riot in Mayhill in May 2021.
They have reflected on an evening which saw cars set on fire, homes damaged and innocent people terrorised after an independent review criticised the response from South Wales Police, who twice refused for a public order unit to be deployed, leaving cowering residents “unprotected”.
The review said there were “significant failings”, and called for a full investigation.
It also said there was “a protracted period during which the residents of Waun Wen Road were in danger, at risk and unprotected by the police”.
Adam Romain and his family went through one of the most traumatic ordeals that evening.
He had to defend his family as rioters torched his car and threw bricks through his windows, showering his baby’s cot with broken glass.
The father-of-two filmed the incident and could be heard pleading with police to come quickly, but the pleas went unanswered.
He said he was happy with the findings of the independent review.
“It looks into a lot of the things that we requested ourselves,” Mr Romain said. “It was highly critical of the operation and how it was handled and all of the angles that they mentioned needed to be looked at and improved upon. I couldn’t have agreed more. It seems that it was done very thoroughly.
“From our perspective, we felt, at the beginning, we were even more disappointed and enraged when we saw the first police statements were saying, ‘Oh, you know, there was a heavy presence and we did everything we could,’ and things like that. We were sitting there thinking, no, you did not.
“To see it now coming back and them admitting their mistakes, it was a huge weight off our shoulders and helps restore the faith in the protection the police can provide to the community and the family.
“Honestly, when I look at the videos and listen to it, it doesn’t get any easier. To re-live it, it takes me straight back to that time. I have had time to assimilate and deal with it as well, all of us have. We want to move on from the whole thing, we want to keep moving forward, but to re-live it and watch it again or listen to it again, it’s still painful.
“My thoughts at the time were confusion, not being able to understand why this was happening to the community where there are lots of families, elderly, children. I didn’t understand what the motivation was behind this.
“For me, personally, it was powerlessness. I felt, to a certain degree, that I could probably fight off some people if they tried to commit crimes, as we all have the right to defend ourselves and stop crimes and vandalism to a certain degree – but when you’re faced with 200, maybe more people, you’re standing there with your hands tied.
“If you step out, this could be the last time you spend time with your family.
“If you get piled in by a group of people that big, no man could take more than two or three people.
“I was extremely frightened for the life of my children, I just didn’t know what was going to happen, whether they were going to try and set fire to the house, or how far this was going to go.
“That is why I stood still in the hallway. I was thinking if they try and come in or loot houses, stood there, I had a chance to defend them from coming inside. That’s what went through my mind, to be a barrier between them and my family.”
Mr Romain and his family have now moved away from the area, and he said their lives were slowly getting back to normal.
He said: “We have been blessed to have a little journey through the country of origin of my partner, spent some time with her family and in a different setting I have had time to spend full focus on my children without work and other commitments, to be able to help my son especially, going through behavioural issues he had after going through this event.
“We have managed to nurture him through it. The changes are notable and he has come through to being his normal loving self.”
The review said officers requested the support of a police public order unit, but that it was declined twice.
The senior officer at the scene in Mayhill sought to go outside of the chain of command because of its repeated refusal.
The review found the command structure needed further examination and clarification so as to identify the communication issues that appear to have arisen. It said the riot should have been categorised as “critical” sooner than it was.
The riot was sparked after the death of 19-year-old Ethan Powell on May 18 last year. It prompted a vigil at the top of the road which quickly spiralled out of control.
Chief Constable of South Wales Police Jeremy Vaughan apologised to those who found themselves in the middle of the riot.
He said: “I want to apologise to all those who have been affected by this incident and particularly those local residents who were tormented by those responsible. We failed to take action quickly enough on the night and for that I am truly sorry.
“We have made some immediate improvements to our operational practices following this incident including how we manage information around an escalating incident and how we draw upon resources from across South Wales and beyond more quickly.”
Mr Romain explained how he and his family had received a personal apology.
“The apology gives some sense of closure,” he said. “We have even had apologies from the people heavily involved in the investigation, and it felt heartfelt, from a perspective of one parent to another.
“It didn’t feel like an official visit as such, it was just genuinely concerned parents who couldn’t understand what they would be feeling if they went through the same thing. That really did help a lot, me and my partner.
“It feels that things are moving forward and that we can get some good out of this as a community and a society in general. The one element I think needs to be really addressed now is people need to be brought to justice and punished accordingly.
“Strangely, I still have hope because a lot of these people are young. I hope a lesson can be learned from their side and they can go and change their path onto a more positive one.”
The mood among residents was mixed along Waun Wen Road, who reflected on the night of the riot in the wake of the publication of the report.
One resident, who lived along the road while the riots happened, said an apology from the police did not change what had happened.
“It doesn’t mean much,” she said. “I remember being in the bedroom looking out the window and there were dirt bikes coming up and down the road, smoke everywhere, people letting fireworks off and throwing rocks – someone even had a leaf blower.
“We were asking, why are the police not here? And they arrived in one measly riot van and kept a distance.
“Cars were being set on fire, people were being terrorised, it was absolutely terrifying.
“Police were backing away and it was the residents of this area which had to restore order.
“One good thing is they have blocked the road off and paved over the road. I can still smell the smoke, and I can still hear the glass shattering. The support from the people of Swansea has been amazing, but that night, the police really let us down.”
Another resident, Jade Bidler, had more sympathy with the officers who were on duty that evening.
“That night, it was obviously scary, but they were outnumbered, there were so many of them,” she said.
“Everything got so quickly out of hand, the best thing to do that night was just stay indoors, and that’s what we did.”
Another resident said he felt police dealt with events that evening “poorly”.
“There was a point in the evening where intervention could have stopped it from going any further,” he said. “When the first car, a Ka, was set on fire, it was obvious there was an escalation and that it had gone to another level.
“That’s the time intervention should have taken place, and it made those there think that if they could get away with that, they could get away with even more. When I saw that they had released the car down the hill, I could not believe it. If it had kept going down the road, it could have killed someone.”
Patrick Gracou has lived in one of the worst-hit areas of the street for the last month, and said he learnt about what happened after he moved in.
“We found out what had happened after we arrived, and we were surprised, it was terrible,” he said.
“Everything has been fine around here since and we have not noticed any issues at all since moving here.”
A group of 37 people have been arrested in connection with the incident in Mayhill, and files have been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The police are awaiting charging decisions.