A 19-year-old man from Wales admitted to deliberately fouling a public swimming pool 18 times, forcing staff to close it repeatedly to collect the matter and sanitize the water. Dyfed-Powys Police said the man was identified through security footage and, when interviewed, fully admitted to being the source of the feces. The case was resolved through an adult community resolution, an alternative process used for first-time offenders in the United Kingdom.
Wales Online's Lois McCarthy reports that the incidents occurred at Newcastle Emlyn Swimming Pool between February and May this year, citing a staff member. Each time waste was placed in the water, the pool, a community-run charity, had to close. Staff eventually reviewed hours of footage to identify a suspect before passing evidence to police.
The pool reports no further incidents since.
The closures were costly, disrupting swimming lessons and requiring visitors to leave: "The financial impact has been significant due to refunds given as well as loss of income from other bookings and footfall which we, as a community-run pool, rely on," the pool said in a statement, which also praised the staff who tracked down the person responsible for the incidents after patrons "grew frustrated by their frequency."
Mystery defecators are a fact of life for public parks and facilities. A woman in Canada was caught in the act and arrested in 2024 after a saga so gripping it ended up on Brazilian television. Pool officials in Asheboro, North Carolina, offered a $500 reward to anyone who could identify the culprit in a pooping incident. Moreover, leaving the pool is no guarantee of safety. In Norway, the Stavanger Golf Club has spent years hunting for the person who fills the course's holes with excrement.
Man admits deliberately defecating in Welsh swimming pool 18 times [WalesOnline]
