ANGLERS in Dorchester are celebrating a cash windfall after a stretch of water was polluted.

Dorchester and District Angling Society has received a share of £7,142 after thousands of fish were killed when a river became polluted.

The pollution on the River Brue in Somerset wiped out thousands of brown trout, chub, dace, roach and gudgeon over several kilometres of river from Bruton to Lydford.

A resident walking the river bank above Lydford Bridge saw masses of dead fish floating and notified the Environment Agency, which investigated.

The agency identified the polluter as Mervyn Walters of Creech Hill Farm, Bruton. Walters pleaded guilty at Wells Magistrates Court in August 2005 to allowing effluent to enter a tributary of the River Brue.

Now the Anglers' Conservation Association has secured compensation for the club for the loss of angling following an 18-month legal battle.

John Smith, who liaised with the ACA on behalf of the Dorchester and District Angling Society, said: "This action has now resulted in the polluter agreeing to pay the claimants a total of £7,142 for loss of fishing and angling amenity since August 2004.

"I'm sure colleagues from Glaston Manor and the trout anglers will be delighted with the outcome of this case. None of us wanted to see such a serious fish kill but it happened."

Once the summer is over Mr Smith anticipates that DDAS and Glaston Manor Angling Association, which shared the compensation would be getting together to sort out how best to use their compensation to restock the polluted sections of the Brue.