Andrew Marshall leads conviction of Anglian Water

Anglian Water Services Ltd has been found guilty of failing, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a requirement to provide records by the Environment Agency. This is the first such conviction of a water company.

The case was brought by the Environment Agency against Anglian Water Services Ltd and arose out of a wider criminal investigation involving all ten water companies into potential non-compliance with environmental permit conditions at over 2,000 wastewater treatment works. Since launching this wider investigation and in order to advance it, the Environment Agency served several statutory requirements for records on the company.

Anglian Water Services Ltd has been convicted of failing, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a notice served under Section 108 of the Environment Act 1995 on 13 December 2021, contrary to Section 110(2)(a) of the Environment Act 1995.

Anglian Water Services Ltd entered a not guilty plea to the charge but, having heard the matter over 8 days in April and May 2024, District Judge Kenneth Sheraton rejected that claim and found the matter proved. Sentencing in the case is due to take place in July 2024.

Andrew Marshall has considerable experience of prosecuting Regulatory & Professional Disciplinary cases. In 2021 he prosecuted Southern Water who were fined a record £90m for deliberately dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into the sea in the largest sentence issued by a court following an Environment Agency investigation. Read more: [Southern water fined 90 million ]

Andrew Marshall was instructed in this case by the Environmental Agency.