Mad Dog owner slammed by father

British tourist Emily Jordan, 21, died in April 2008 when she was caught under a rock in the Kawarau River while river boarding. Photo / supplied

The father of drowned 21-year-old Emily Jordan has slammed a river boarding company owner who claimed accepting a plea bargain over the death was his biggest regret.

Ms Jordan died in April 2008 when she was trapped underwater for 20 minutes while on a Mad Dog River Boarding tour of the Kawarau River near Queenstown.

The company pleaded guilty to two health and safety charges over the death and was fined $66,000 and ordered to pay $80,000 reparations to the Jordan family.

A jury at the Smethwick Council House in the West Midlands last week backed that ruling with a verdict the death was the result of misadventure.

But Mad Dog River Boarding owner Brad McLeod said accepting charges over the death was his biggest regret and denied he had done anything wrong.

Ms Jordan's father Chris Jordan today issued a statement blasting that claim.

His daughter died in dangerous conditions with undertrained guides who did not have the right equipment to save her, he said.

"I have battled to get some positive change in this sector for three years now, and despite some difficult and emotional times have aimed to remain as constructive as possible... but statements of this type fill me with horror.

"Can Brad McLeod really believe that these comments are acceptable?"

He argued the fines imposed on Mad Dog River Boarding were too light a penalty for his daughter's death.

Manslaughter charges should have been leveled, he said.

"An interesting point is that I do agree with him about the plea bargain. I wish he had not accepted this, as I was absolutely against it being offered. From soon after Emily died, when I began to realise how this had happened, I had been pushing for a manslaughter charge to be laid, not only against Brad McLeod, but also against the two other guides responsible on the day

"This verdict was not worthy of New Zealand - it was, as I said at the time, an insult to Emily and our family."

Mr McLeod last week argued both the New Zealand charges and the British inquest were based on inaccurate and incomplete information.

He rejected any allegation of wrongdoing and claimed there was nothing he could have done to prevent Ms Jordan's death.

"They offered a plea bargain and I accepted that plea bargain in the hope that all parties involved would be able to move on in a positive way. It is the single biggest regret that I have - is accepting that plea bargain.

"I think about that day every day of my life... but I have to look at what I was doing at the time. We were doing an activity that poses a danger. The one thing that keeps me going is the knowledge there is nothing we could have done. Accidents happen."

Mr McLeod said his guides were well trained and carried appropriate rescue equipment.

But the British inquest and 2009 findings said Mad Dog guides carried no ropes and the company's safety plan was not up to industry standards.

Guides from another river boarding company retrieved Ms Jordan's body within minutes, using rescue ropes, reports say.

Ms Jordan's death sparked a national inquiry into adventure tourism safety standards after Mr Jordan expressed his concerns to Prime Minister John Key.

Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson announced new regulations in December making it illegal for adventure tourism operators to conduct risky activities without a current safety audit.

Adventure tourism deaths:

April 29, 2008: English tourist Emily Jordan, 21, drowns while river-boarding on the Kawarau River.

August 9, 2008: Sarah Bond, 23, dies after her quad bike fell 30m down a gully in rugged terrain west of Waitomo Caves.

September 25, 2008: Chinese tourist Yan Wang, 42, is killed when a jetboat flips over in the Shotover River near Queenstown.

March 7, 2009: Massey University student Catherine Peters, 18, falls to her death while doing a bridge swing near Woodville.

July 24, 2009: Australian Llynden Riethmuller is killed in an avalanche while on a heli-skiing trip in ranges near Methven, mid-Canterbury.

August 14, 2009: Heli-skiing guide Jonathan Harvey Morgan, 38, is killed in an avalanche while leading a group of tourists.