THE boss of a company fined for polluting an East Dorset river has hit out at the Environment Agency.

Trelawney Dampney, managing director of Eco Sustainable Solutions, said he is at a "complete loss" to understand why public money was spent on bringing the case to court.

The business was on Tuesday ordered to pay £11,848 in fines and costs after admitting causing or knowingly permitting a water discharge contrary to the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010.

Investigators from the Environment Agency were contacted by a member of the public in December 2013 after pollution was spotted in the Moors River in East Parley.

Officers responding to the report discovered a ditch full of a foul-smelling black liquid flowing into the Moors River.

Aquatic plants in the river downstream of the ditch were also found to be covered in a sewage fungus for more than two miles.

The river is classified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The leak of effluence occurred after a domestic waste pipe, not designed to carry pollutants such as leachate, ruptured.

But following the sentencing hearing at Bournemouth Magistrates' Court, Mr Dampney said: "Eco Sustainable Solutions was totally blameless in this incident and we are at a complete loss to understand why the Environment Agency considered it a sensible use of public money to pursue this matter through the courts. We note that the magistrates found that Eco had very low - or even no - culpability in the matter.

"The incident occurred when a contractor who was not working for Eco struck a pipe taking effluent to a local sewerage works. It was not on land controlled by Eco but because the liquid was generated by Eco the company was deemed to be guilty.

"Even though the incident did not happen on Eco's land we did everything possible to clean up the spillage once the incident was brought to our attention. This was done in full and we are now in the process of recovering our costs from the contractor.

"At a time of severe funding issues in the public sector I really do question why the Environment Agency thought it was in the public's best interest to tie up so much time and resources in pursuing this prosecution against Eco."

Tony Arden of the Environment Agency said: "Leachate from composted food waste is highly polluting and can be toxic to aquatic animals, including fish.

"This was a serious pollution incident that had a significant impact on the environment.

"As a site operator, the defendant has a responsibility to ensure leachate only enters pipework covered by a trade effluent consent."