A meat rendering plant that spilt around 20 tonnes of black effluent into a Devon stream killing dozens of fish was ordered to pay £6,748 in fines and costs in a case brought by the Environment Agency.

On August 16, 2005, the Environment Agency received a call from a member of the public reporting that the Common Lake Stream at Torrington was discoloured.

The stream flows from Darracott Reservoir through farmland before passing to the north of Torrington, through more farmland and into the River Torridge.

Officers went to the site and saw the stream was polluted with a black coloured liquid. Upstream of Peninsula Proteins Ltd the water was clear.

Environment Agency officers went to Peninsula Proteins where they were shown the area from which the spill had occurred. A pump had failed resulting in an effluent tank overflowing. There was an alarm warning system in place, but at the time of the incident it had been manually adjusted after frequent false alarms. It estimated it had lost between 18 to 20 tonnes of effluent.

A survey carried out in October, 2005 found only one small brown trout in a 75 metre stretch downstream from the point of the spill.

The company immediately offered to help deal with the pollution and provided a tanker filled with 11,000 litres of clean water.

Peninsular Proteins Limited, of 66 Wigmore Street, London, were fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £1,748 costs by Barnstaple magistrates after pleading guilty.