A water company has been fined £9,000 for allowing raw sewage to leak into a stream, killing fish and putting swans' lives at risk.

Animal rescuers worked round the clock to save the swans on Shinewater Lake, Eastbourne, during the incident last October.

People living nearby had alerted the authorities to a bad smell which engulfed the lake following heavy rain.

Eastbourne magistrates yesterday heard how the sewage leak was blamed on problems at Southern Water's Polegate pumpng station.

A faulty valve inadvertently led to waste water being released from a tank storing storm water into Mill Ditch, which feeds the lake.

Southern Water admitted pollution charges.

The company, which supplies water to Sussex, was prosecuted by the Environment Agency. It was also ordered to pay £897 costs.

Nev James, company waste water manager, said: "Southern Water deeply regrets this incident and apologises to the people of Polegate.

"The company investigated the problem when first alerted to it and an operator visited the site and resolved problems associated with the pumping of the water.

"Unfortunately, further problems had not been identified which resulted in waste water being released into Mill Ditch.

"A clean-up of the surrounding area was undertaken when the overflow was discovered."