A farmer from Ahoghill, Co Antrim, has been fined £1,000 for a polution offence.

Alan Mitchell was also order to pay £67 in court costs and an offenders' levy of £15.

Between 27 April 2013 and 20 January 2014, Water Quality Inspectors, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, inspected an unnamed tributary of Largy Burn which feeds the River Bann. The inspectors observed the water was grey in colour and could detect an odour of pig slurry.

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The polluting discharge was caused by a faulty slurry storage tank, which was leaking slurry into an underground drainage pipe, before making its way to the waterway.

Samples taken at the time of the incidents confirmed that the discharges contained very high Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) with high Suspended Solids contents and Ammonia concentrations.

(CD/JP)